Teen Titans, Season 5: Battle for Tamaran
by AramauFierySecretary
Summary: Disclaimer inside! Starfire has to return to Tamaran to fight for her old home, and the Titans all join her. In the longest campaign they've ever had to run, what will happen as they battle for the future of Tamaran?
1. Prologue & Episode 1: GO!

**Prologue/Episode 1: GO!**

Hello there, everyone. This begins the, as I call it, Final Season of _Teen Titans_. For the purposes of this story, I have chosen to completely eradicate the entire fifth season of the original _Teen Titans_ series as well as the movie _Trouble in Tokyo_.

There are two exceptions to my overhaul, "Go!" (the flashback episode and my personal favorite of season 5) and "For Real" (the episode where Titans East comes to watch Jump City while the Titans are away and confront Control Freak – somebody's gotta babysit the West Coast, right?). I am keeping these in because they are important to the story I have developed for this season. Also, keep in mind that I am only disregarding the story of these episodes. The Brotherhood of Evil will not be the Titans' villains, nor will we get all those one-shot Titans no matter how much I like some of them (Red Star and Raven's kids being favorites of mine). But the characteristics of the Titans that we glean from these episodes will remain intact. For example, the team knows Beast Boy's real name and his past with the Doom Patrol, and Starfire's increased tolerance for heat, radiation, and cold is common knowledge. There is one more change to the canon (since the show is pretty close to the comics for a kids' show), but I'll explain that in a bit.

Now, you may be wondering why I'm doing this at all. I will tell you:

Starfire never got her own season.

Think about it: Robin was focused on primarily in Season 1. Slade was his villain, his personal vendetta. All the Titans had an episode (as they do in all the other seasons), but Robin had the spotlight. Season 2 was Beast Boy since he was closest with Terra and a lot of his emotions are explored. He grows the most out of the five in Season 2. Cyborg's season is obviously 3 and, duh, Raven's is 4. Each season has a long-standing villain (I'm counting Terra here because I hate that b****) that corresponds to a Titan's emotional and personal growth experienced through that series of episodes.

Except Starfire.

Starfire has episodes, most notably 4: "Sisters", "Date With Destiny", "Transformation", and "Betrothed". (She used to have 5, but I'm tossing out "Snowblind", even though it was good.) She has never had a full season where she grows and changes as a person, not like the others. Had they ended the series after Season 4, I'd have been upset, but I'd have lived with it. But no. They gave Beast Boy (and I love BB, you'll see that) A SECOND SEASON WHEN STARFIRE DIDN'T EVEN GET ONE. (Some would argue that this wasn't Beast Boy's season, whereas I say, **ahem** "The first two episodes are all about him and the last two episodes he is the mature team leader. It's his season.")

Thus, I aim to fix this. Starfire is the star (ha) of this season, most of it takes place on Tamaran, and I am also going to try to tie up some, if not all, of the plot holes. Especially Red X and the two romantic pairs that I and most everyone else ship (again, Trouble in Tokyo no longer exists for this). Ironically, the biggest plot hole (Robin's briefcase that Ding Dong Daddy stole) is no longer an issue, but that dust from Slade's mask in "Haunted" still is. Until now! Yay!

In any case, Episode 1 of this new and improved fifth season of _Teen Titans_ is one of the ones I'm keeping in from the original series, "Go!" You will see why I have done so in Episode 2.

I am only making two changes here: The first is that the words "Four Years Ago…" appear on the screen at the beginning of the episode before the title. The second is in Starfire's explanation of why the Gordanians had her on their ship:

Starfire: "Not prisoner. I am… prize. The Gordanians are taking me to the ones they serve, the Citadel, to live out my days however they tell me."

This will be important later.

As for the one canon change, I am changing Starfire's brother. Ryand'r is an annoying little twerp whom I've never liked and he would be useless for this story. So, he doesn't exist in this universe. He has been replaced, and you will meet his replacement in Episode 2. (Her parents are also dead, but in a different way, but that's not as important.)

I feel that explaining these changes are absolutely imperative, not only to pay homage to the wonderful creators of these heroes, but to say my piece as to why this is important to me. Nothing in this is owned by me except for the OCs you'll meet very soon.

So there you go, an explanation and Episode 1: "Go!", as it were, of the Season 5 of my favorite animated TV series of all time, _Teen Titans_. Please proceed to Episode 2.


	2. Episode 2: Soulfire

**Episode 2: Soulfire**

"Titans! Go!" Robin called out as his team expertly took up their stances against perhaps their most laughable foe, Dr. Light. The chronically incompetent villain had actually made an intelligent move and invaded a power plant, hooking himself up to the main generator and laying waste to anything in his path. Robin leaped over the other generators to attempt to deliver a bo staff blow to the villain's face, but Dr. Light used his whip to wrap around Robin's staff and fling him away.

Raven quietly hovered above the scene as Cyborg mounted a rhinoceros-formed Beast Boy and primed his sonic cannon. "Charge!" Cyborg called and Beast Boy galloped as fast as he could toward the villain. With Cyborg's lack of subtlety, Dr. Light had no problem deflecting both Beast Boy's charge and Cyborg's cannon, sending both of them flying backwards.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven whispered from above. She used Cyborg and Beast Boy's distraction to wrap electrical cables around Dr. Light's gloating form. At first it seemed to work and she floated down further to maintain control of the villain. But with a grunt, he superheated the wires, tore through them with ease, and blasted her straight in the chest with a beam of light, sending her flying as well.

"Raven!" Beast Boy called, turning into a grizzly bear and catching her. Robin used Beast Boy's larger form as a platform to leap off of and grab onto Starfire's hands as she flew over. Starfire then flung Robin towards Dr. Light, and the Boy Wonder flipped in the air before throwing three of his exploding discs toward him.

"The same old tricks won't work today, Titans!" Dr. Light gloated, his goatee bobbing while shooting all three of Robin's discs out of the air, "I have this entire plant's energy at my command!"

"It won't do you much good," Robin quipped, "if you're unconscious."

"Huh?" the reedy evil-doer asked stupidly a millisecond before Starfire's foot collided with his head in a tremendous kick that sent him flying across the plant. True to Robin's warning, he was now unconscious and being contained by a slightly wobbly Raven and a concerned Beast Boy. Cyborg dashed over to the control panels.

"Looks like power is returning to the affected areas of the city. He just rerouted it, not fully absorbed any of it," he informed the others as the police entered the building to collect the prone figure and send him back to jail.

"Glorious!" Starfire called, somersaulting in the air with joy, "Let us return home, friends! I am eager to partake in the breakfast at the incorrect time for breakfast feast that Cyborg had planned for us!" Robin quirked a smile and the others nodded in agreement, filing out of the door and into the T-Car.

After a short drive home, the Titans were sitting comfortably around the table, eagerly waiting for Cyborg to bring out the feast.

"Here we are, y'all!" he announced proudly, placing the platters overflowing with waffles, bacon, eggs, sausage, and hashbrowns on the table, "Dig in!"

The five were just about to do as instructed when they heard the shattering of glass coming from a nearby bedroom and the interior alarm start to blare.

"Dude! Nobody'd better be in my room!" Beast Boy said, angrily shifting into a dog and bolting towards his room.

"Nobody would survive," Raven remarked before phasing into the floor to inspect her own room. Starfire flew off quickly with Robin and Cyborg pelting behind her.

After a quick check, Robin, Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg all exited their rooms and caught each other's eyes. Robin shut off the alarm, and it was only after the alarm stopped blaring that he and the others heard Starfire shouting in Tamaranean from her room.

"Starfire!" Robin cried, dashing with the others toward her room. After jamming in the lock override code, the other four Titans burst into the room to see Starfire angrily brandishing her starbolts and glowing green eyebolts at a man they had never seen before.

He had strangely familiar close-cut purple-black hair with bangs in a similar shape to Starfire's and slim emerald green eyes staring pleadingly at the angry alien. He was tall – shorter than Cyborg but only by two or three inches – with a stocky upper body tapering into a slim waist and muscular legs. His arms, raised plaintively in surrender, were also fairly muscular, but in a lean way like Robin's. He wore a purple tank top with two silver armbands on his upper arms, silver fingerless gloves with familiar green gems on them, purple pants slightly covered by a black loincloth attached to a silver belt, silver knee-high boots, and a black stud earring in his left ear. He looked like he could easily attack Starfire, even if it would be the last thing he'd ever do, but he didn't seem to be looking for a fight.

The other Titans watched, confused, as Starfire obviously knew the stranger. And apparently hated him, which was rare.

"Gokrashi tormatha, Soand'r! Agnatta yoraya!" Starfire bellowed, leaning into the man angrily.

"Toquet, Koriand'r, wanaga arnzar olanor!" the man replied as he backed away, and Starfire eased up. She lowered her arms and disabled her starbolts, but kept her normal green eyes fixed on him.

"It has been a very long time," Starfire said, an edge of bitterness creeping into her voice and worrying the other Titans.

"Y-Yes. Four years by Earth's cycle," the stranger replied. He seemed almost scared of Starfire, which was reasonable given her greeting, but there was a look in his eyes that practically begged forgiveness. Robin was getting insanely curious so he finally cut in.

"Star? Who is this?" he asked, lowering his bo staff slightly. Starfire only narrowed her eyes at the stranger, leaving him to answer.

"My name is Soand'r, Prince Regent of Tamaran. You may call me Soulfire."

"Wait, prince of Tamaran?" Beast Boy said aloud, piecing it all together, "So that makes you—"

"I am Starfire's elder brother," he replied, straightening to his full height now that he was nearly certain his sister would not attack. Meanwhile, the boys of the Titans' jaws hit the ground and even Raven managed widened eyes and a quirked eyebrow.

"WHAT?!" They all stared at Starfire, who relaxed ever so slightly but her anger was still apparent.

* * *

~ Insert theme song here ~

* * *

"You have a brother?" Cyborg asked, stunned.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Beast Boy asked, not very graceful about his indignation at being left out. Raven inclined her head to look at the Titans' leader.

"Did you know about this?" she asked, but the answer was obvious as Robin stared at Starfire's profile in shock mixed with just the slightest hint of hurt feelings. Soulfire cleared his throat.

"I am sorry for my intrusion, but—"

"Why are you here, Soand'r?" Starfire asked. Robin's ears perked up. She had not addressed him as 'Brother', even though she had called Blackfire 'Sister' after her cruelty had been exposed, so whatever her brother had done to make her angry must have been serious. Soulfire's shoulders drooped a little in guilt, but his voice carried no less gravity.

"Galfore is extremely ill and the Gordanians are threatening an invasion. Your planet needs you, Sister." This revelation finally shook Starfire out of her anger and all six of them returned to the living room to hear what Soulfire had to say. Robin, Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg all took their places on the couch, plates piled with the slightly cooler but still edible breakfast for dinner feast, but Starfire remained standing and facing the wall so all Soulfire could see was her profile. (Because she was still hungry, she despondently munched on a waffle with mint frosting.)

"What's all this about the Gordanians attacking?" Robin asked.

"And why do you need our help?" Raven added in her monotone. Beast Boy glanced at her briefly – he could tell that she was still suspicious even though Soulfire was Starfire's brother because of how Starfire was still behaving towards him – and turned his attention back to Soulfire with a little bit of extra caution.

"When you all left Tamaran sixteen months ago, Starfire left Galfore as the interim Grand Ruler in my stead. When I returned to Tamaran two months ago, he explained to me what Kommand'r – I mean, Blackfire – had done and how Starfire and her friends – you all – had saved Tamaran from her tyranny. I thank you for my help, friends of my sister," Soulfire explained, bowing slightly with his thanks.

"No problem, man. We're the Titans," Cyborg said with a smile, "Saving people is what we do, no matter what planet."

"Wait a minute, hold on!" Beast Boy called out, waving his arms in confusion, "If you are supposed to be king or whatever, why haven't we heard about you before? Star hasn't told us anything—" Starfire winced at the mention of her name, though she was not angry at Beast Boy, "—and that gigantic nanny guy didn't say anything about you either!"

"As to why Galfore did not mention me, I do not know. But I have not seen either of my sisters in four years. I have been training on the Centauri Moons with the elders to hone my powers and learn how to rule Tamaran," Soulfire informed them, and looks of mild realization started to dawn on Beast Boy and Cyborg's faces.

"Four years," Raven said quietly, "so that means you haven't seen Starfire since…"

"Since the Gordanians took her—attempted to take her to the Citadel, yes," her brother affirmed, "And in that four years, the Gordanians have overthrown the Citadel and established themselves as a force to be reckoned with, especially in the last year or so. King Daktaal and his armies are now threatening the other planets in close proximity, starting with Tamaran… and the Earth shortly thereafter."

"Why Earth?" Cyborg asked.

"Gordanians do not forget easily. Especially when a planet that had bore no threat to them before somehow manages to defeat one of their best ships with ease," Soulfire replied, referring to how the Titans all met and their first battle.

"Earth will be ready," Robin muttered darkly, already priming for a fight. Starfire finally spoke up, the first words she had uttered in nearly fifteen minutes.

"Tamaran has a great army. I saw it myself the last time my friends and I were there. And Galfore is a wonderful general," she said flatly, "It will not be like last time, Soand'r. Not like the first war that brought ruin to our planet."

"Galfore is ill, Sister," Soulfire nearly pleaded, and Starfire finally turned her face to him, her green eyes meeting his own, "Very ill. I am in charge in his stead until he recovers and can officially return the crown to me. And neither of us wish to fight a full-scale war. I need your team's help." He looked imploringly at the Titans, whose frowns had severely lessened. "You are the only beings alive who have infiltrated a Gordanian ship and prevailed. You destroyed one of their battleships without a ship of your own! I need your help to spare my people the pain of another war. I need _you_ … Sister."

Starfire finally turned her whole body to face the pleading prince in front of her. Her friends saw something inside of her soften ever so slightly before she turned her big green eyes imploringly on their leader.

"Robin, I must help Galfore. If he is ill and wishes for peace, I must help him. Please, may I go?" she begged, turning her friends into mushy piles of agreement.

"Of course you can, Starfire," Robin started, "and—"

"Please, could you all… lend your assistance as well? I do not know what will become of this mission… but I do know that we are heroes. We fight for peace. May we fight for peace on another planet as well?" Starfire looked at her friends so desperately that they all felt their insides melt into a little affectionate pool at the bottom of their stomachs. How could they ever refuse her?

"If she's going, I'm going too." Oddly, Raven was the first to pipe up, and she was shortly followed by Cyborg and Beast Boy's joint declaration of "Me too!" Robin stood up decisively.

"Titans, start packing."

Soulfire bowed once again. "Thank you, Titans of Earth. Our planet is indebted to you." The other Titans smiled at him while Starfire walked out of the room without another word or glance at her brother.

The next morning, after everyone had gotten some rest (Soulfire had insisted on staying on the couch), Beast Boy and Cyborg were down in the garage tuning up the T-Ship for interstellar travel once again.

"No, BB, put the pizza with the googly eye next to the thing that looks like an air freshener!" Cyborg barked at Beast Boy, who was crawling in the smaller spaces of the T-Ship as a guinea pig. Beast Boy's head popped up out of a panel and he asked, "Which air freshener, the pine tree or the weird mutated dolphin?"

"The mutated dolphin. The glowing green donut goes around the pine tree," Cyborg replied, devolving into the simpler version of the instructions that he had learned how to use with Beast Boy ever since their crash on the barren purple planet. "Is there anything else that looks empty?" A little green guinea pig tumbled out of the engine compartment and shifted back into the lanky green changeling.

"Nope! I think we got everything!" Beast Boy said, standing up and brushing himself off. "Dude, as much as I wanna help, I do not want to go back. I never got how to use their bathrooms! That's, like, vital!"

"Man, I'm sure Soul will tell you how to use them. He seems like a pretty solid dude," Cyborg replied, inspecting the oxygen tanks.

"I guess. But Star looked really upset with him," Beast Boy said, worried.

"I know. But she also asked Robin to let her help, even if she was mad at him. And she pleaded with us to come with her," Cyborg reasoned, "Until Star says something, we're going to be helping them. Besides, if the Gordanians are heading for Earth after Tamaran, it makes sense for us to head them off before they get here."

"I guess you're right," Beast Boy sighed, "She was just so… angry. And I know what she's like when she won't forgive someone. It's like you don't exist to her."

"It'll be okay, BB. We'll look out for her," the metal man said from the cockpit. Beast Boy nodded, transformed into a gecko, and began combing the exterior of the ship for any cracks that may compromise its ability to get the team to Tamaran alive.

Robin paced outside of Starfire's locked door. She never locked her door, aside from the one time she had gone through her Transformation, so he knew she was extremely upset. He knew he had to say something, but he was at a loss as to what. "Why didn't you tell me" seemed insensitive, and he knew she was hurting. "Why do you hate your brother" could cause her to shut him out more – if there was a reason she hadn't said anything before, then…

"Robin," Raven intoned from behind him, and he jumped a bit. "Sorry."

"It's fine. What is it?" he asked, turning to face his darkly clad teammate.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked, not challenging him, but genuinely wanting to hear his thoughts. Robin knew that when Raven questioned him, it was never to antagonize him but to understand him better. He frowned.

"Not at all. But Starfire wants us to help him. We can at least start them with defense plans and we can even rally Earth's defense from there. But if there comes a time where she feels she can't do it—"

"We'll leave. Starfire comes first," Raven finished for him, and he gave her a half-smile. He still looked troubled that Starfire had withheld such important information from him, but he wouldn't let it get to him. Not until she had time to gather her own thoughts. He looked carefully at his darker teammate, but something seemed off about her.

"Are you all right? You seem a little—"

"I'm fine," Raven said quickly and with finality. Robin dropped it. He also knew better than to go down that road with Raven.

"All right. But you know you can come to me if you need to."

"I know," Raven said, a ghost of a smile flitting across her face. Ever since the whole Trigon debacle, she had been more open with her expressions and even sharing a little more with her fellow Titans. But just barely. However, Robin and the others knew not to push it. She'd come to them more with time.

"Also, Raven," Robin whispered so that Starfire wouldn't hear, "could you keep an eye on Soulfire? I know he's her brother, but after Blackfire…"

"I understand," was all Raven said before she phased into the floor of the hallway. Robin sighed, returning his thoughts to the alien girl behind the door. He had thought he knew everything about Starfire after their many hours of talking and spending time together. But he realized, standing outside of the alien princess's door, that he hadn't really asked her much about her life before the Titans. If he did, it was about Galfore or Blackfire. He hadn't asked about her parents, how she grew up, or what Tamaran was really like. He hadn't asked about how she got on that Gordanian ship.

He hadn't asked her why she'd stayed on Earth. Why she didn't want to go back home.

Kicking himself, he turned to face the door, pressed a hand against it, and said, "Starfire? I hope you can hear me." He heard a small shift from inside. He hoped that meant that Starfire was coming closer to the door rather than trying to retreat. "We're here for you, Starfire. I can tell there's something going on with you and your brother. But I'm not going to ask. I know you'll tell me when you're ready." There was silence from inside the room, but it wasn't a bad one. "Cy and Beast Boy are finishing up with the ship. We should be ready to take off soon." With that, he walked back to his own room to finish packing.

Inside her room, Starfire held her knees to her chest and bent her head, fighting back tears. She felt guilty that she had never shared such a huge part of her life with her friends. She felt ashamed that she had to ask for their help and drag them back to a place that had treated them so poorly. She felt scared because she was returning to a planet she knew may not let her go back to Earth a second time. She also felt a little happy that her friends were not only going to Tamaran for her but, if she asked it, they would also leave if she started to feel uncomfortable. Tears spilled out of her eyes, hot mixtures of all those emotions, but one stood out most.

She felt a burning anger – possibly even a hatred – toward Soand'r for coming into her life again, not matter how necessary it had been.

"All right, guys, let's do this!" Cyborg called as he took his spot in the T-Ship. The other Titans took their own seats with a mix of trepidation and excitement (in Starfire's case, resignation). Soulfire waited patiently for them to get situated before flying ahead of them to be their guide. After the systems check and a very smooth takeoff, the five cruised toward their destination, a mere three-hour flight at the speed they were going, with Soulfire leading them easily.

The air in the ship was tense, however. Starfire was still sullen and the others were searching for a way to make her smile again (even Raven, who was oddly perturbed that Starfire wasn't perturbing her with her cheeriness). Finally Robin got up the courage to speak up.

"Starfire?"

"Yes?"

"Are you all right?" Immediately she plastered on a smile too big to be real and began to babble.

"I am feeling wonderful! I am jubilant to return to Tamaran and see my k'norfka! I wish he was in a more healthful condition, but I have missed him so!" she chirped a little too happily.

"Star—" Cyborg tried to interrupt.

"Perhaps I can show you more of Tamaran this time! We remained in the palace for most of our last stay—"

"Or the dungeon," Beast Boy muttered mostly to himself, but the three who weren't Starfire heard it.

"—but I wish to show you all what a beautiful planet it is! Not as beautiful as Earth, but still glorious in its own way. Oh! And perhaps we will get to see more of my friends!"

"More friends?" Raven asked, and Robin caught her meaning. The last friend Starfire had introduced them to was her hulking caretaker, who at first did everything he could to keep her separated from the rest of them.

"Yes! Now that Soand'r has returned, perhaps his guard has returned as well. His k'norfka is Galfore's other half, and the royal military advisor is Soand'r's best friend. And then there is the captain of the guard, and his personal bodyguard. They stay with him for much of the time, but I considered them my friends as well," Starfire sighed wistfully, "I have not seen them since… um, since Soand'r left for the Centauri Moons." Starfire glanced at her brother flying in front of them and sighed again before returning her eyes to the console in front of her. The other Titans exchanged looks; maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

"Star?" Beast Boy asked.

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Cyborg asked, already holding the controls to turn a sharp U if she said they should go home. After a few seconds, she nodded.

"My home planet is in trouble, and the Earth may be threatened next. My feelings are not as important as the people we protect," she said, sounding more confident than she had nearly all day. Robin shot a glance at Raven, and she spoke directly to his mind.

 _Let it come out on its own, Robin. She'll tell us._

 _Will she? That's exactly what she said when Val-Yor was calling her—_

 _I know. But she told us eventually. Forcing her to tell us won't make anything better – it didn't then, it won't now, and it never will._ Robin pursed his lips in frustration.

 _Do you know why she's like this?_ Raven hesitated before answering.

 _I may have an idea. But I don't know for sure. If it becomes necessary, I have no trouble if we have to force it out of Soulfire._ Robin smiled at Raven's subtle malice until Soulfire's voice began to echo into all of their headsets.

"Gordanian drone fleet!" he yelled and the Titans saw a small squadron of green and black ships shaped like torpedoes. There were no openings, so Robin felt sure that the ships were unmanned. He watched as Soulfire diverged off course to follow after one.

"Titans! Separate!" Robin bellowed, and they did as directed. Beast Boy immediately made a front flip and caught a drone who had been following the ship as he was upside down. Starfire and Raven on the sides began to fire at the drones who had snuck up on their flanks. Cyborg rose from their earlier position and sent out a radial blast, catching about five drones in its way, and Robin barreled forward charging straight towards the largest drone in the fleet. The large drone seemed smarter than the others and began to lead Robin on a chase, and soon Soulfire joined in Robin's pursuit.

"If we take out the leader, the other drones will be deactivated!" Soulfire instructed.

"Got it!" Robin replied and bore down on the drone harder. Robin watched the others as they took some of the other drones out, but more soon replaced them. He gritted his teeth and focused on the leader drone, Soulfire matching his movements.

Soon Robin and Soulfire entered an asteroid belt Robin knew to be near Tamaran and the drone cornered itself by one of the larger ones.

"Ha! We have it, Robin!" Soulfire called triumphantly, but Robin noticed a drone heading straight for Soulfire and charging its shot. Robin opened his mouth to call to Soulfire, but he was beaten to it.

"SOAND'R!" Starfire's voice echoed over the headsets they all wore, and Soulfire turned around in time to see Starfire blast the drone to smithereens with her cannons.

"Thank you, Sister!" Soulfire called, but Starfire ignored him and sped off in pursuit of another one. Soulfire only had time to look crestfallen for a moment before the largest drone opened fire on him. Robin attempted to shoot back, but the ship was surrounded by some form of energy shield.

"Robin! We took care of the others! We're heading back towards you!" Cyborg reported over the headsets.

"Starfire, Raven, charge up your plasma blasters. Cyborg, boot up your sonic cannon. I can't hit it with my firepower!" Robin growled.

"But I can!" Soulfire responded, his eyes glowing a bright fuchsia color, similar to Starfire's when she was about to launch an attack. But instead of the starbolts Robin had come to expect from Tamaraneans, suddenly a large magenta blade erupted out of Soulfire's wrist. Avoiding the drone's projectiles, he launched himself toward it and sliced the drone cleanly in half as the other Titans, who had just arrived on the scene with their weapons primed, watched in awe. Only Starfire seemed unsurprised at her brother's different powers, but Beast Boy could not contain his shock.

"DUDE! You grew a sword out of your hand! How did you do that?!" he asked, miming Soulfire's powers with his own hands.

Soulfire smiled and answered, "Studying to become Grand Ruler of Tamaran is not just diplomacy and etiquette. It involves learning the Centauri Mind Arts as well, if one is not blessed with the powers my sisters inherited."

"Wait," Cyborg asked as the T-Ship began to reform itself since all the Titans were in close enough proximity, "you don't have starbolts and eyebeams like Star?"

"I do not. On Tamaran, though we are all blessed with flight, strength, and the ability to withstand harsh conditions, not all are granted the sacred powers that my sisters have been granted," Soulfire explained, "And never before have two children in a generation inherited it at the same time." Robin looked over at Starfire; she had obviously grown uncomfortable with the talk of her sister and her look of despondence was back. Before he could divert the topic, however, Soulfire informed them that there were Tamaranean vessels coming to escort them to the planet, and the Titans followed them without accidentally firing on them.

* * *

~ commercial break ~

* * *

The T-Ship and Soulfire gracefully landed in the front of the palace amidst a procession of important-looking Tamaranean officials and soldiers lining the pathway to the grand doors. Soulfire flew up to his sister's compartment to help her exit, but she ignored him and flew down herself as the others got out as well. The landing party walked to the front of the ship to be met with a hundred sets of eyes. There was a military shout, and all of them knelt to one knee and bellowed, "All hail Prince Regent Soand'r and Princess Koriand'r!" in English, which surprised the Titans.

"I had them use English for you," Soulfire whispered to the group before giving the reply, "Dal'ti awal!" This must have been the command for them to resume standing for the company did so. Starfire stepped forward, a smile on her face but steel in her eyes.

"Thank you all for your warm welcome. Surely you remember my friends?" She asked sweetly, and the Titans saw all the guards present gulp or exchange nervous glances with one another. Oh, yes, they remembered. Beast Boy and Cyborg gave them smug smiles before Soulfire spoke again.

"I have brought the Teen Titans of Earth to help us in this difficult time. Please treat them as you would my sister or myself," he intoned gravely, and Robin remembered that Soulfire had been informed of their last disastrous trip to Tamaran. The greeting party got the message and bowed to the other Titans quickly. Cyborg and Beast Boy both waved like beauty pageant contestants, and Beast Boy squeaked out, "All right, first thing's first; I need a bathroom and someone to teach me how to use it!"

"SOAND'R!" a loud female voice boomed from the entryway to the palace and the doors slammed open. A hulking female Tamaranean – one who looked disturbingly like Galfore but with all of her hair on her head instead of her face, an all-purple dress with a silver apron tied around it, and a robotic left leg and right eye on her body – glared angrily at Soulfire, who blanched. Beside her stood three others.

The first was a rather bulky man (Robin was reminded of Mammoth for a brief second) with a glistening bald head, a small goatee on his chin, and a full-body purple jumpsuit with black pelts dangling off his back in a cape. He had a long familiar spear strapped to his back, but his had a strange spigot near the point that Robin didn't understand.

The second man was tall and lithe, his abs showing underneath the purple cutoff shirt similar to Starfire's, with a long deep red ponytail tied tightly behind his head and black pants with silver armor on the thighs and shins. He had two very elaborate three-pronged daggers fastened to his sides and the bottom of his boots seemed to be spiked.

And the third was a slender but toned woman with pageboy cut brown hair, a bell-sleeved purple leotard that had a silver utility belt around her waist, silver gloves and knee-high boots, and a large scar from one cheek to the other that looked like it had come from a very large claw. Robin noticed that, on her utility belt, she had a short silver rod similar to his bo staff when he had it retracted for storage, but hers was a little thicker.

The large woman barreled quickly towards Soulfire, and even though the four non-Tamaranean Titans got into a battle stance, everyone else merely backed away without looking alarmed. But instead of attacking him with deadly force, she merely attacked him with a deadly hug, pinning Soulfire's arms against him and knocking the wind out of him. The three that were accompanying the large woman soon joined her.

"My beautiful little bumgorf! Are you injured? I've been worried sick! Why didn't you take someone with you when you went to Earth? You even ordered Darya to stay behind!" the woman cooed loudly as she cuddled Soulfire to her enormous body in an endearingly spine-crushing hug.

Soulfire sputtered, "Hello, Shiora. I am well, please do not fret. I am able to care for myself, and the Titans are excellent fighters." Shiora gave a great harrumph and hugged him even tighter (if that was possible).

"Hmph! I shall worry if my sweet boy gets into a fight with Gordanian scout drones if I so choose!" She then turned to the assembled greeting party and barked, "Get out of here! Prepare the princess's room and rooms for our esteemed guests! NOW!" Fearing the wrath (or even the affection) of the larger woman, the others quickly scattered, leaving only the Titans, Soulfire, Shiora, and the three that had arrived with her.

Finally, she turned to the Titans and laid her eyes on Starfire. Shiora's green eyes softened greatly when she looked at her bumgorf's sister, and she said gently, "Welcome home, Koriand'r. Galfore and I have missed you."

"It is good to see you as well, Shiora," Starfire said, looking genuinely happy to see the over-exuberant mountain, "May I introduce my friends?"

"Oh, there is no need, my dear. Galfore has told me all about them!" She turned her happy gaze onto Beast Boy, still not releasing Soulfire, who looked a little blue in the face. "This strapping green fellow is Beast Boy."

Beast Boy took this opportunity to voice a question he had obviously been dying to ask, "Are you Starfire's nanny too?"

Shiora laughed, "No, only my dear Soand'r's. But I did care for Koriand'r as well when Galfore was away." She then looked at Raven, who was eyeing the Tamaraneans before her with (what the Titans recognized to be) mild suspicion. "This young lady is Raven."

Raven spared her a cursory-but-not-quite-rude, "Hello" before returning to her mental analysis of the other three, who were in turn studying the Titans.

Shiora turned to Cyborg and her eyes lit up with excitement. "Cyborg! I must speak with you about how you maintain that excellent ship of yours. And perhaps pick up a few pointers on my own maintenance. As you can see, I too do not have all of my original parts," she said, pointing to her replacement right eye. Cyborg bravely walked up to her and motioned for her to lean down, which she did and released Soulfire at the same time. Soulfire took this opportunity to retreat to the woman with the pageboy hair that had accompanied Shiora and breathe. The woman patted his back as he gasped in air, but her face did not change its expression.

Cyborg looked over Shiora's eye and said, "I could probably come up with something for you. Any requests?" Shiora laughed loudly.

"Not right now! But I am sure we will have plenty of time to get to know one another." Finally, she turned to Robin. She examined him more closely than the other three, looking him up and down carefully, before beaming at him.

"And you must be the leader Galfore has spoken so highly of. Robin, is it?" Robin let out a little smile at Galfore's revealed praise and said cordially, "Nice to meet you. We're here to help."

"No wonder my husband has high hopes for you, lad! Oh, but where are my manners? I should have introduced the rest of the Prince Regent's company," she said, quickly digressing into a more business-like tone. She motioned to the bulky bald man, who grinned down at the Titans mischievously. "This is Firid'n, captain of the palace guard, though he's been serving as extra protection for Soand'r for the last few years."

Firid'n leaped forward and shook Robin, Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg's hands vigorously. "It's so great to meet you! You guys are legends in the guard! We've never had anyone break out of our cells before! Sorry that my men stuck you in there, though. I wasn't here, you know?" Beast Boy and Cyborg smiled, already liking the exuberant captain.

"No sweat, man. It's all good now," Cyborg said, waving off their previous adventure in the Tamaranean dungeons. Beast Boy gave him a big cheesy Beast Boy smile, and Raven rolled her eyes when Beast Boy turned that smile to her.

Shiora motioned to the woman standing directly beside Soulfire, "This is Darya, Tamaran's most brilliant combat scientist and Soand'r's personal bodyguard." As if to prove that she was more professional than Firid'n, who was still grinning happily from his place at Shiora's side, Darya merely bowed to the Titans.

Once again, Beast Boy piped up, "Do you have super cool sword hands like Soulfire too?" Darya looked at him, and the others thought her cool expression reminded them a little bit of their own resident dark sorceress.

"No, only my lord knows the Centauri Mind Arts," she replied, her voice low and silky, "My skills lie elsewhere."

"What do you mean?" Beast Boy asked. Darya looked at Soulfire and he nodded. At his signal, she withdrew the silver rod she had on her belt and ejected the ends. But instead of a simple staff like Robins, the ends formed into a double-ended naginata, and she proceeded to demonstrate a few of her combat moves.

"Ice!" Soulfire called, and with the press of a button, Darya's weapon became able to send out little icy shockwaves and freeze any surface it touched. The Titans' eyes widened, and Robin especially was impressed. Similar results were achieved when Soulfire called "Fire!" and "Electricity!", and the demonstration ended with all four of the Titan newcomers clapping appreciatively.

"That was impressive," Robin said, and Darya turned her expressionless gaze on him, "Maybe you could help me upgrade my weapons, if that'd be alright. I could help you with something too." Darya gave him a quick once-over and, much to everyone's surprise, let out a small smile.

"Thank you for your compliment. Galfore spoke of your indestructible cape. Perhaps you could aid me in creating my own?" she suggested, and Robin nodded. Soulfire suddenly walked up and seemed to stand in front of her, blocking her from Robin slightly. (Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven were slightly amused by this; Soulfire's mild jealousy was very like his sister's over their leader.) Any signs of territorial behavior were only increased when he spoke.

"I chose Darya because she is the absolute best that Tamaran has to offer."

"I thank you for your words on my behalf, milord," Darya said from behind him. Raven was the only one in position to see her face, but she was sure she saw a mild blush grace Darya's cheeks for an instant.

Shiora interrupted the mild display of princely jealousy by introducing the final member of Soulfire's company. "This is my son and chief military advisor, Al'krr," she said proudly. The lean Tamaranean, who had yet to say a single word, paid no attention to the Titans as he walked over to Starfire. Without any preface, he leaned down and kissed Starfire directly on the mouth. She made no motion to stop him, nor did she even encourage him. He had simply put his lips against hers, and she just stood there. Nevertheless, for the second time in the last twenty-four hours, every single human Titan (especially Robin) was shocked by the sight before them.

Al'krr removed his lips from Starfire's and turned to face the other Titans. "I have heard much of the Titans. I bid you welcome to Tamaran," he said in a pleasantly deep voice.

"Hold on a second!" Beast Boy cried, "What's going on here?!"

"Who is this guy?!" Cyborg roared, confusion making him louder than he probably should have been.

"You never said you were engaged again," Raven said, the slightest bit of hurt sneaking into her statement at the thought that Starfire had hidden something from them again. Robin turned his face to Starfire, trying very hard not to show how hurt he was. Meanwhile, the Tamaraneans looked on at their strong reactions, confused.

"What is wrong?" Al'krr asked innocently. Robin tentatively placed his hand on Starfire's shoulder and they looked into each other's eyes for a moment.

"Starfire? What's going on?" he asked as calmly as he could, and a look of realization came over Starfire.

"Oh! I apologize, friends, for not explaining. The people of my planet can learn any language instantaneously through lip contact," she explained brightly, pointing to her lips.

"I needed to learn the language of the Titans in order to communicate with them, correct?" Al'krr asked, and Beast Boy and Cyborg shrugged their assent, still a little baffled that Starfire had this ability and never told them. Darya then piped up.

"Ah, I see the trouble. I have heard of this Earth custom called a 'kiss'. They believe that Al'krr is romantically involved or betrothed to milady because he initiated the knowledge transfer lip contact," Darya explained bluntly, and the others nodded in understanding. However, Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg glanced over at Robin; he looked more crushed and deflated than he'd ever let himself look before. Not paying attention to the crestfallen look on the human leader's face, Shiora ushered them all inside, saying that she had a feast prepared in honor of their arrival.

Shiora, Al'krr, Darya, Firid'n, and Soulfire led the Titans through the palace, Starfire keeping as much distance between her and her brother, who led the procession, as possible. Robin stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him, startled.

"Robin?"

"Are you sure you're alright, Star? I know you keep saying you are, but…"

"It is nothing, Robin. We have a mission to complete. We are here not only because Soand'r asked, but because it will benefit the Earth as well. Everything is fine," she answered, smiling kindly at him before they resumed their walk through the palace. Robin wanted to tell her to stop pretending to be okay and talk to him, but he knew Raven was right and that pushing her would cause more problems than it would solve, so he just walked along beside her.

Meanwhile, Beast Boy had never been one to worry about the consequences of pushing people, so he slowed down to keep pace with Raven. "Hey, Raven, are you feeling okay?" he asked, walking backwards so he could face her.

She ducked her head down so he couldn't see her face and said, "I'm fine, Beast Boy."

"You just haven't been yourself lately, and I'm—"

"I _said_ I'm fine." Beast Boy didn't believe her, but he dropped it for the moment and walked beside her. Raven was a little surprised that he dropped the subject – the hound in him always wanted the answers – but she appreciated the company as they walked through the ornate halls.

They arrived in the dining hall where an elaborate feast was set before them. This time, however, there were familiar Earth foods alongside the normal Tamaranean fare. There was a turkey beside the freshly squeezed glorg, salads sprinkled with zorkaberries, and – for some reason – a tall stack of pancakes topped with mashed potatoes. Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy began to drool at the sight of the Earth food (and the drinking glasses that they could actually lift), and they all took their seats at the table. The head of the table remained empty while Starfire took the first seat on its left and Soulfire took the one on the right. The Titans sat along Starfire's side and Soulfire's company sat along his with some other Tamaranean nobles scattered past them.

The feeding frenzy began, but thankfully none of the Tamaraneans touched the Earth food, so the humans were able to eat in relative comfort. Starfire refrained from reverting to her abysmal Tamaranean table manners and indulged in both kinds of foods happily. Dinner for the aliens was over in a matter of minutes, so the humans were forced to scarf down their meals in order to not be rude and make their hosts wait too long for them to finish.

After the meal, the nobles dispersed and Soulfire informed the Titans that Galfore wished to see them, leading them once again through the colossal palace. The walk would have been pleasant for Raven if not for Beast Boy constantly changing into cute animals and walking beside her, trying to get her to notice him. Raven _had_ noticed that he was trying to get her to talk, but she was stubbornly refusing to.

The truth was, she _hadn't_ been herself lately. But she couldn't talk to anyone about it until she figured out a way to deal with it herself. And she'd been trying for weeks…

Raven was so lost in her own thoughts that she bumped into Cyborg's back when they stopped in front of some grand doors that led to the royal chambers. Darya and Firid'n opened the doors and the rest filed in. The Titans formed a line in front of Galfore's bed and their hosts lined up behind them.

"Kadanir?" Shiora said softly, true worry etching her face for the first time since they'd met her earlier, "The Titans are here to see you."

The large mountain beneath the blankets began to move, and Galfore's impressive frame sat up against the pillows behind him. The newcomers all let out a little gasp; the valiant and vibrant Galfore they remembered was nowhere to be seen. Grey had begun to color his hair, overtaking his mustache and creeping over to the roots of his beard. His eyes were sunken in and paler, his muscles had shrunk, and his breathing was slightly labored. He looked smaller without all of his pelts and normal clothes, instead only wearing a simple purple nightshirt. The only thing that truly reminded them of the Galfore they had met nearly a year before was the soft smile he was giving them. Starfire's eyes began to tear up as he focused his gaze on her.

"Ah, my little bumgorf, you have come back. Thank you for returning when we need you so greatly," he said shallowly, smiling sweetly at his old charge. Starfire flew over to him and gave him a hug around his neck.

"How could I stay away from my k'norfka when he is in such a state?" she asked and he patted her head. She returned to her place beside her friends, trying very hard to hold back tears. Robin gently touched her wrist for a moment, and she gave him a small smile.

Soulfire addressed the ailing Grand Ruler from behind Starfire, "My sister has returned in order to help us stop the Gordanian threat before it devastates our planet once again." Galfore nodded.

"That is my aim. No more destruction. A quick end. Tamaran and its people have already suffered too much. First at the hands of the Citadel, now we face their old servants. We will not allow ourselves to be as unprepared as we were last time," Galfore said grandly, coughing nearly every other word. Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg looked confused and even Raven allowed her eyes to widen ever so slightly. The four of them turned to look at Starfire before Beast Boy addressed Galfore again.

"More destruction, Galfore, sir?"

"Yes, Beast Boy. Many years ago…" he began before coughing once again. He finished his coughing fit and sounded a little clearer and stronger when he began his story again. "Many years ago, Tamaran was a lush and densely wooded planet. Plants grew, rivers flowed, milnips sang, and there was no strife. Tamaran had never engaged in warfare, nor did we have an army; they weren't necessary. But about six years ago, the Gordanians invaded on behalf of the Citadel… and nearly destroyed all plant life on our planet, as well as a good many of our people." The human Titans looked out the window. Purple wasteland stared back at them, mountains in the distance. Not a plant they could identify in sight.

Robin was stunned; Starfire had never told them that the aliens that had captured her were capable of biological warfare. How had she survived? How would the Earth survive the onslaught?

"So they nearly destroyed your entire planet?" Cyborg asked gravely, and Robin's fists clenched. Beast Boy's chest rumbled in a quiet growl, and a small candle in the room became encased in hot black energy before entirely melting.

Shiora continued for her husband, "Our enemies devastated us. We were a peaceful people, only having a few guards to protect the royal family on diplomacy trips, and even then guarding them was their secondary duties. Among them were Firid'n and Darya. The post of military advisor had not even been created yet."

"We did not possess an army anywhere near what we needed to halt an invasion," Darya said coldly.

"Men, women… children… all lost to the slaughter," Firid'n nearly sobbed, making some of the others wonder if he had lost someone to the invasion.

"And after the people, they began work to destroy the land so we could never recover," Al'krr intoned. Soulfire took a deep breath before he continued.

"Until the Citadel offered my parents, the former Grand Ruler and Grandess, a deal. But they were away on a diplomatic trip to Vernathia in a vain attempt to ask for aid. So the decision fell to Blackfire and myself, Blackfire being the eldest and I being the only male," he explained, his voice tightening.

No one continued the story, and a small sob alerted the Titans that Starfire had sunk into a despair they had never seen before on her. Her head was bowed and her arms were wrapped protectively around her middle. Her knees shook and her breath came out in shallow gasps. She looked like she was crumpling under a weight they couldn't see, but they definitely could see the tears dripping off of her hidden face and they could hear her mumbling what sounded like the word "no" over and over again to herself. Beast Boy and Cyborg looked like they were going to cry just looking at her and Raven hid her face further back in the shadow of her hood. Robin slowly took a step forward, struck by the sight before him.

"Starfire…" Robin breathed as he reached out a hand to her. He barely grazed her shoulder before she let out a small "I cannot be here" and ran full-tilt out of the room.

"Starfire, wait!" Robin called after her, but Al'krr and Firid'n blocked his way. Soon they realized that they had been surrounded by their hosts, though they seemed to have no violent intentions. Nevertheless, the Titans huddled together and readied themselves to fight back and find Starfire if they needed to. Soulfire's voice from the foot of Galfore's bed drew their attention.

"Please, Titans. You must listen. You will understand then," Soulfire implored.

"What happened to Starfire?!" Robin snarled, his mind set on the look of agony on her face as she left.

"…We took the deal," Soulfire replied, all bravado he had instantly leaving him and despair taking its place.

"What was the deal?" Raven asked testily.

"What does it have to do with Starfire? Weren't you and Blackfire in charge of it?" Cyborg spat.

"They were," Darya replied, guilt appearing on her formerly expressionless face, "The Citadel agreed to cease all violent activity and withdraw all of their troops…"

"In exchange for one important person. Someone with the holy powers of X'hal herself, but young enough that they could mold into a weapon," Al'krr intoned. Realization dawned on the Titans. Cyborg looked incredulously at Soulfire. Raven's power melted all the other candles in the room. Beast Boy whispered, "No way…" and his arms dropped to his sides. Robin just glared angrily at Soulfire, knowing exactly what they all were trying to say.

"Yes," Soulfire sighed, "I had to choose to save my planet or my little sister. And I chose Tamaran."

* * *

~ commercial break ~

* * *

"How could you?!" Robin roared.

"Dude, she's your sister!" Beast Boy snarled.

"You gave her to your enemy!" Cyborg bellowed, "Did you think for a second about what they were going to do to her?"

"Of course I did!" Soulfire shot back, getting a little intimidated from being ganged up on by his sister's four angry and powerful friends. Darya edged a little closer to him, ready to act as his bodyguard if the need arose, as he continued, "What else could I have done? Keep my sister and let the entire planet – millions of people, all of the remaining plant life that had been spared – be destroyed?"

As much as they hated to admit, Soulfire had a point, though that did not mean that they forgave him. He continued, saying, "I didn't want to give her up. She is my family… now the only family I have left. Our parents were killed, and Blackfire is rightfully banished. When I returned from the Centauri Moons, I was overjoyed to learn that she was alive. …But I deserve every bit of hatred she feels toward me."

"Do you know what they did to her? What they were going to do to her?!" Beast Boy accused.

"That was not part of the deal!" Soulfire exclaimed, his capacity for remaining calm finally breaking, "It was agreed that they would take her, yes. But they did not state for what purpose, and… I hadn't gotten the chance to speak with her yet. It was a delicate situation – they would open fire on the planet if she did not go with them. And they do not know the meaning of patience. The second she walked into the room when the negotiations were over, they tranquilized her, locked up her hands, and took her onto the ship. I didn't get to say anything to her."

"She said that she was their prize. She knew you had allowed it to happen, that you had given her to them. And that she was going to spend the rest of her life doing what they told her to," Cyborg explained in an uncharacteristic near-monotone.

"I know! I know, and I am sorry! I had no other way of saving my people!" Soulfire burst out, his voice breaking with unrealized tears. They all could see that he was truly remorseful, so the boys eased up ever so slightly, but Raven was still not appeased.

"Then why did you think asking her for help was a good idea?" Raven asked, venom that would have scared Trigon dripping from her voice, "Of all the people in the galaxy you could call on for help – the Centauri people that you studied under, for example – you call on the one person that you _sold into servitude_." Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg could hear Rage start to creep into the forefront of Raven's countenance and they were tempted to let her take over and wreak havoc. But the others in Soulfire's company all rushed to his side to defend him; Darya took her place directly in front of him, Firid'n and Al'krr stood by his shoulders, and Shiora positioned herself next to her husband's bedside but still behind Soulfire. Firid'n broke the tension first.

"We are desperate!" Firid'n cried, "The Gordanians may not be as organized as they were when they were under the control of the Citadel, but they are more reckless and ruthless now. Scouts will come undiscovered and burn homes or attack citizens. Drones invade our airspace without notice – you just fought one of their fleets!"

"But you Teen Titans defeated the Gordanians before," Darya added, genuine respect echoing in her voice, "when you liberated Princess Starfire. You are the only ones who have ever taken down an entire Gordanian warship without a ship of your own."

"And that justifies bringing Starfire back here?!" Cyborg shouted, but Robin grabbed his arm.

"Wait," Robin said, realizing something, "she's _here_."

"Yeah, man, that's what I said!"

"No, Cyborg, she _asked_ to come here. She _wants_ to be here. She wasn't forced, and we've said that we'd go home if she wanted," Robin said, facing Soulfire, "Starfire is very honest with her feelings. I don't think she would have come to help if she didn't care. If she didn't want to forgive you, if she really didn't want to see you ever again, she wouldn't have begged to let her come." Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven completely relaxed and thought about what Robin had just said.

"Starfire doesn't like to hold grudges," Raven reasoned.

"She even gave Blackfire another chance the last time we were here," Beast Boy pointed out.

"She might have come to try to give you another chance, Soulfire," Robin told him.

"And we wouldn't have come if she hadn't asked," Cyborg said firmly.

"The simple fact that she asked us to help means that she does want to move forward," Robin addressed the other Tamaraneans, who were now staring at them in awe and relief, "and we are here to help her. But if you mess this up, if you hurt her again, if you do anything that stupid again—"

"You'll deal with us," all four of the Titans chorused menacingly, and all of the Tamaraneans remaining (except Galfore) flinched.

"I think that is fair," Galfore intoned sagely between coughs, "Princess Koriand'r has already proclaimed that Earth is her home now. It seems fitting that her new family protect her… as her old one could not." Soulfire looked at the floor, but Robin walked up to him – Darya kept a sharp eye on him – and clapped a hand onto his shoulder.

"It's not too late, Soulfire. We need to find her," he said, and his friends nodded behind him. Soulfire gave a little smile.

Starfire walked over the purple wastelands, magenta dust rising in little puffs with every step, considering her options. She could simply fly home! But she did not want to leave her friends behind… She could return to the castle. _No,_ she thought as a searing pain burned in her chest at the thought, _I cannot ever return there. I feel so… crushed there. I cannot breathe._

This left her with the option of waiting for her friends to find her. They would. Robin always found her. Even when she had been going through her transformation and fled Earth, Robin and her friends had found her.

Thinking of her friends made her smile a little as she continued to walk. She came upon a small hilled area in the wastelands, close to one of the settlements she remembered as being abandoned before she… left home. Suddenly, from behind one of the hills, three large green-and-black Gordanians flew up high and descended on her too quickly for her to react.

"Take her. Perhaps we could use her," one of them said, and the other two grabbed her tightly by her arms.

"As what? Another slave?" the one grabbing her left arm asked. Starfire struggled against them and managed to at least move them with her alien strength, but she could not shake them off completely.

"Release me immediately! You will be sorry if you do not!" she growled, thrashing as much as she could. The two holding her arms lifted her from the ground so she lost her leverage, and the first who had spoken considered her face.

"I recognize that voice. And this face," he said, and she blasted him back with her eyebeams. She then flew upward, dragging the two holding her with her, and threw them on the ground.

"She has royal powers!" the leader called, "Catch her! She is the escaped princess from the last peace treaty!" At the mention of who she was, Starfire unconsciously froze. _They have not forgotten. Have they returned because I escaped? Is that what is behind all of this?_

The two lizard-like aliens that Starfire had shaken off leapt up into the air, withdrawing spears from their backs, and tackled her out of the sky as she pondered a moment too long. With a resounding thud, they brought her back to the ground, struggling mightily. The struggle effectively ended when the leader grabbed her by her hair and yanked her head up to face him.

"Today is a joyous day. Our long-lost prize has been returned to us. The king will pay handsomely for you," he sneered, and Starfire tried her eyebolts again, but he easily dodged them. While she was distracted, one of the others came up behind her and put those horrible Tamaranean-proof cuffs that Starfire had desperately tried to remove on her last escape on her wrists once more.

"No!" she cried, continuing to struggle desperately, "I will never return to be your prize!" The leader of the little scouting band opened his mouth to reply, but he didn't get a word out before he was hit square in the chest with an exploding disc, dropping Starfire to the ground.

"STARFIRE!" Robin bellowed, leaping into the air and landing his foot right in the face of one of the other scouts. Beast Boy, as a rhinoceros, butted the third scout away from Starfire's arm, Cyborg blasted the recently-kicked scout, and Raven shielded Starfire with her body, her hands glowing with her black energy.

"You're not taking her again," Robin said forcefully. The three scouts, now fully recovered and not wanting to surrender their ultimate prize so quickly, all pulled out their electric spear weapons and charged once more. Robin whipped out his bo staff and went head to head with one of them, blocking and dodging while still getting in a few good hits. Beast Boy became a grizzly bear and swatted at one of the others while Cyborg tried to wrestle the spear from the third's hand. Raven knelt beside Starfire and attempted to use her powers to free Starfire from her cuffs with no success.

"Come on," Raven whispered, urging her powers to cooperate. But the black energy kept flickering until it gave out completely.

"Raven? Are you injured?" Starfire asked, worry in her eyes, not for her own safety but for the wellbeing of the enchantress before her. Raven shrunk her face further into her hood at Starfire's concern and sighed.

"I'm not hurt, Starfire. But we're going to have to wait to get those off you until—" Her sentence was cut off by the leader of the scouts whacking her in the head with his massive fist. He then used that fist to grab Starfire around the neck and took off from the ground, flying higher and higher. This gave Starfire the opportunity to look down at what had become of her friends.

The other two scouts had been apprehended, but Cyborg (who had been fighting the scout currently hoisting her up in the air) was lying chest-down on the ground, unmoving. She saw Beast Boy looking around frantically, trying to decide whom to help first – the fallen Cyborg, the unconscious Raven, or the kidnapped Starfire – and then she heard Robin call out, "Beast Boy! Gorilla!" Beast Boy heard the call and did as he was told, shifting into a mighty gorilla. Robin dashed toward Beast Boy and jumped up. Beast Boy then used his enhanced strength to spring Robin higher into the air in an effort to clasp onto either Starfire or the alien taking her away, but his fingertips just barely missed.

"No!" Robin grunted as he fell back to the ground.

"Robin!" Starfire whimpered, still thrashing her legs as much as she could.

"SISTER!" Starfire heard the voice before she registered that it belonged to the man tackling the Gordanian holding her. The scout released her neck and she fell to the ground, watching as Soulfire began to fight with a long magenta spear of his own. Robin caught her as she fell, using the same technique with Beast Boy that had failed the last time, and they landed easily. Darya, Al'krr, and Firid'n flew over from the same direction that Soulfire had entered and began to take the other two incapacitated scouts into custody.

"Starfire, are you okay?" Robin asked, quickly getting out his multi-tool to unlock her bindings as Beast Boy dashed back over to help Cyborg, who was beginning to get back up, and Raven, who was still out cold.

"Yes, Robin," Starfire replied quietly as she watched the battle above them. Soulfire had switched from a spear to a giant war hammer and was beating the scout soundly, but the scout refused to surrender.

"You will not take my sister from me again!" Soulfire roared, swinging his hammer and barely missing.

The scout swung with his spear, but he missed as well, snarling, "We did not take her. You gave her to us willingly, little prince! And now we shall reclaim what is ours."

Soulfire let out a raging battle cry as he enlarged his hammer and swung down onto the scout's head as hard as he could. It landed soundly and the scout crashed back down to the planet, sending out a shockwave. He looked down at his defeated opponent as he descended, looking the most like a true prince to the Titans since he had come to the tower, and he landed gracefully next to the lizard-eqsue brute. He put one foot on the alien's chest and leaned over him, eyes flashing with malice.

"She does not belong to anyone," he said with finality as Al'krr and Firid'n picked up the fallen scout and placed cuffs on him similar to the ones he put on Starfire. Darya walked over to Soulfire and tapped on his shoulder.

"Milord, we need to get Lady Raven back to the palace for medical attention. And Master Cyborg needs to be looked over by the Grandess," she said, and Soulfire turned to see a still-unconscious Raven being carried by Beast Boy (who looked extremely worried) and Cyborg checking his diagnostics.

"Yes. Please escort them back, Darya. I will be there soon," he answered. Darya nodded, flew over to Cyborg, and easily picked him up with her Tamaranean strength. Beast Boy held Raven protectively, seeming to be worried that Darya would take her from him, but Darya did not move to take Raven as well and simply gave him a small, kind smile. Beast Boy looked over to Robin and Starfire, who had been freed and both of whom were standing again, and Robin nodded for him to go with her. Beast Boy followed, but Starfire was sure she heard him whisper, "Please be okay, Rae. Please wake up soon."

Darya led Beast Boy back to the palace, flying in pace with his walking speed, leaving Robin, Starfire, and Soulfire alone. Starfire stared at her brother, who only looked at his sister's feet, and Robin kept his eyes on Starfire. After a fairly uncomfortable but mercifully short silence, Soulfire knelt down on one knee and bowed his head to Starfire.

"Soand'r—"

"Koriand'r… I do not deserve to call you my sister after what I did to you… But your friends have given me hope that we may someday come together as family again. Please, even if you cannot forgive me, I wish for us to spend time together so that I may show you how much I desire to repair the rift I have created between us. Let me try to reverse the rekmas, and let us save Tamaran… together," Soulfire said, his gaze never leaving the ground. There was another silence as Starfire considered his words until Robin put his hand on her shoulder. She glanced at him and he shot her a small smile, which she returned with an even bigger one of her own. She walked over to stand directly in front of the kneeling prince.

"I do not know if I will ever forget what has happened between us. There has been so much… And my days imprisoned on that ship still have not left my memory," she said quietly, and Robin frowned at this; he didn't know she was still haunted by her imprisonment and he mentally kicked himself for not being more observant and considerate. She continued, "But that does not mean you are not family, and it does not mean that I do not wish to be here. I have no plans to remain on Tamaran forever; my home is on Earth. But… the planet that raised me is in need, and I do not wish to lose any more family… Brother."

At this, Soulfire finally looked up, and Robin could see the unmistakable sheen of tears in his eyes. He stood and hesitantly extended his arms, but Starfire beat him to it. She hugged her brother, and he hugged back, tears falling into his sister's fiery red hair.

Robin looked on at them, smiling broadly, but in the back of his mind he couldn't help remembering that this – both the reparation of relationships and the oncoming war – was going to be a long road ahead of them all.


	3. Episode 3: Weakening

**Episode 3: Weakening**

"Do Earth females usually hover in the air while they sleep?" Firid'n asked. Firid'n, Al'krr, Soulfire, Darya, Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg were gathered in the room that had been prepared for Raven. Upon returning from their little skirmish with the scouts and rescuing Starfire, Beast Boy had gently laid her on her bed. As soon as he released her, she began to float in her healing trance, and she had remained suspended there for several hours. And Beast Boy had stayed by her side since.

"No, they don't. But Raven's a special case," Beast Boy replied, his eyes not leaving Raven's face.

"She's not from Earth either," Cyborg clarified, and the Tamaraneans nodded.

"Does she require any equipment to accelerate the healing process?" Darya asked, "I have several apparatuses in my lab that I use to patch myself up during experiments."

"No, but thank you, Darya. Raven's magic heals her, it just takes some time," Robin said kindly, and Darya nodded, her pageboy hair bobbing ever so slightly. Starfire turned to Firid'n, Al'krr, and Darya.

"I would like to thank you, friends of my brother, for keeping him safe. And for helping to subdue the scouts who attempted to take me captive," Starfire said, smiling sweetly. The three she addressed didn't bother to hide their surprise at her sudden change in attitude – she had gone from somber and weeping to sincere and happy since she'd fled from Galfore's chambers – and they returned her smile.

"Of course, princess! We live to serve!" Firid'n said, clapping her on the back so hard that it would have made Robin wince but Starfire didn't even react.

"Anything for you, milady," Darya replied, her smile short and sweet as it soon returned to her impassive look. Al'krr merely nodded, not taking his eyes off of Starfire.

Shiora entered the room with a bowl of cool water and a rag and handed the items to Beast Boy. "Here, little one, just as you requsted." Beast Boy only nodded as he took the rag and wiped away the sweat that had formed on Raven's forehead. Shiora then looked at Soulfire's posse and said, "Come along, boys, we've bothered the Titans enough for one day and they have a lot they need to do. We have a lot to do for tomorrow too, so let's get to it." Firid'n and Al'krr nodded and followed her out of the room, and Darya distanced herself by standing right next to the door after they exited.

There was an uncomfortable silence for a brief moment as Beast Boy put the rag back in the bowl and turned to face the others until Soulfire broke it by saying, "Sister, I was thinking… Would you mind taking a walk with me around the palace? We have much we should discuss."

Starfire looked hesitant and she glanced at Robin for a cue. He whispered, "Go ahead. We'll be here if you need us. Cyborg and I are going to go take a look at the ship before bed, okay?" She nodded and replied to her brother, "You are correct, Soan—Brother, we do have much to discuss." The siblings exited the room and Darya followed them, keeping a respectable distance behind them, leaving Beast Boy, Cyborg, Robin, and a trance-bound Raven behind. Robin looked after the retreating Tamaraneans until Cyborg put his hand onto his shoulder.

"Come on, man. Star will be fine. I think that Darya girl is just as worried about them as you are. She won't let them kill each other," the semi-robot said good-naturedly.

"I'm not really worried about them being angry with one another, Cy. Angry at least means that they're dealing with things. I'm more worried about other things, but thanks anyways," Robin said before looking down at Raven's prone form. Then he looked at Beast Boy. He could see a familiar protective glint in the green changeling's eyes – a glint that had prefaced a dramatic and harsh change into The Beast – but he could also see that Beast Boy was doing his best to remain in control. After a quick moment to consider, he said, "Beast Boy, you stay with Raven. Let us know when she wakes up. Cyborg and I are going to go check on the ship and grab the last of the luggage."

Beast Boy nodded and said, "You got it, boss! I'll be right here, watching her like a hawk." To prove his point, he then turned into a hawk and perched himself perfectly on the back of the chair he had been sitting in. Cyborg and Robin rolled their eyes and headed for the T-Ship, leaving Beast Boy alone with Raven.

* * *

~ insert theme song here ~

* * *

Starfire and Soulfire (and Darya trailing behind quietly) strolled through the palace. They had been strolling for ten minutes, and still they had not said a word. Starfire had been sneaking glances at her brother every once in a while, but she had nothing she could say.

It had been four years since she last saw him. And the last time she'd said a word to him was when he was telling her that the Gordanians had asked him and Blackfire to hear the conditions of a treaty they were proposing. It wasn't until she woke up cuffed and imprisoned on the Citadel prisoner transport ship that she realized that _she_ had been the condition… and that Soulfire had allowed her to become so.

She hadn't blamed her sister for what had happened, though. Starfire knew that Blackfire was only in the discussion out of formality; even though she was older than both of her siblings, Blackfire was not in line for the throne by succession because she was a female. Soulfire had been groomed from birth to take the throne once their parents had passed, and Blackfire had been raised to marry into another planet's royalty, perhaps Vernathia (before the Locrix invasion). Blackfire could always have challenged Soulfire – and obviously she had figured out some way to become Grand Ruler in Soulfire's absence – but she would never have been handed the crown willingly unless Soulfire had died.

So Starfire had gone the last four years believing her sister to have had no part in the surrender conditions and nursing a great deal of anger and hurt toward her brother. But now she knew that he had not wanted to give her up. Shortly after making up with her brother, Robin had told her everything Soulfire had said in Galfore's room. She had understood to a point; her brother was up against the wall, and the Gordanians pulled a trick. But there was still a lingering distance, a throbbing pain in her chest that she hadn't wanted to address.

Why had he never come for her? Why had he never tried to find her? Why hadn't he tried to get her back?

These were questions that she did not have the answers for, nor did she have the courage to ask them. So they continued walking in silence with only Darya's occasional request for updates from the other guards around the palace to punctuate their discomfort.

Beast Boy sat as a hawk for a while before growing bored and returning to his normal form. Raven had been out for four hours. He understood that her head was probably hurting and that the scout had probably done a decent bit of damage. But the only other time she had been out this long (actually a little longer) was when Adonis attacked Beast Boy and she got caught in the scuffle. It had taken so long for her to heal because Beast Boy, in his Beast state, had taken her away and moved her a little too carelessly, causing her injuries to worsen.

But here she was in better condition than she had been then. So why was she still asleep?

"Come on, Rae," Beast Boy pleaded, laying his head on the bed, "please wake up. What's going on with you?" He looked around the room. Someone must have done their homework because this room had been decorated as close to her personal tastes as one could manage without her. The room was dimly lit, painted black, purple, and blue, and had candles and incense holders all over. The large bookcase was still empty, save for a few Tamaranean knickknacks that Starfire had told him had magical properties, but Raven would fill it with the books she had brought in no time. Her bed was large and plush with lavender and black covers, violet pillows, and thin white gossamer curtains around the lavender canopy that she could draw if she wished.

All Beast Boy wished, however, was that she would wake up. Say something sarcastic. Hit him over the head. Anything!

"Raven, come on! Are you having a really good dream? Is that why you're still asleep?" he asked, knowing that wasn't the answer. If she ever had dreams, good or bad, she'd never told him. He slumped down further so that all that was keeping him up was his chin on the bed and the edge of his butt on the chair.

He had never been good at waiting, especially not when he was worried. So, in order to distract himself, he replayed the last battle with the scouts in his head.

 _Okay, Robin exploded one dude and called out for Starfire – no surprise there. I started going for the dude on the left and Cyborg went for the one on the right. Raven shielded Star with her energy—wait, no she didn't. She stood in front of her with her hands glowing. Weird._ Beast Boy looked at Raven. She hadn't moved her body, but her face had moved ever so slightly into a frown. Perhaps she was feeling his confusion with her empathic powers. Beast Boy continued his rundown.

 _Then Robin managed to get the spear away from one of the guys and I slapped the other one down with my bear paw. Cyborg got shocked by the leader guy's electric spear, so he was down. And Raven was unlocking Star with her pow—WAIT! Raven's energy flickered off. Starfire looked worried, and that's when Raven got hit! Something is wrong with Raven's powers!_

Beast Boy quickly started scouring Raven's new room for what he needed as he pulled out his communicator (which he wasn't sure would still work). "Come in, Cyborg! Do you read me?"

"What's up, little man? Is Raven awake?" Cyborg asked, and Beast Boy sighed in relief that the communicator still functioned normally.

"No, but I think I know why it's taking her so long to heal. Something's up with her powers. They're not working." Cyborg took in this new information and pondered the possibility of what the green teen – who was currently rummaging through Raven's luggage – was saying.

"That actually makes sense," Cyborg replied, "I mean, since Trigon is gone, it would make sense that her powers would weaken a bit. But to not work at all? I mean, they worked well enough to get rid of the guy."

"I know. But something's wrong. I have to go in," Beast Boy said, widening his eyes meaningfully. Cyborg's own gazed back at him with wonder.

"B, are you sure? She might try to kill you," Cyborg whispered conspiratorially, trying to keep it down near Robin. In the time since they had accidentally gone through Raven's mind portal mirror, neither of them had spoken about it. Sure, the three of them had gotten a bit closer, but that was something private between the three of them, and it was an unspoken rule not to mention it. It was also an unspoken rule that neither Cyborg nor Beast Boy was to ever go back there again.

"She might. That is a definite possibility," Beast Boy gulped nervously, "but if she's really hurt and can't heal herself, she could be trapped in that trance forever! I gotta see what's wrong for myself." Finally, in the smallest bag she had stuffed inside of her largest suitcase, he found the mirror. Careful not to look at it yet, he brought it over to the chair he'd been sitting at.

Cyborg sighed, "You're right. But if I don't hear from you in another three hours, I'm coming in after you." Beast Boy nodded and they both hung up. Beast Boy looked down at Raven's face; she was frowning more now so that even people who didn't know what to look for could see it. This worried Beast Boy even more than her refusal to wake up; if she was frowning in her meditative healing trance, something bad must be going on in Nevermore.

He reached out to touch her face, but stopped himself before he did. Instead, he just said, "Raven, I'm coming in there. If you can hear me, I don't care if you're going to fling me out of the window when you wake up. Because you _are_ going to wake up. You have to!" He flipped the mirror over and stared into the glass surface. But instead of seeing Trigon/Rage's four red eyes glaring back at him, he saw a grey version of Raven running towards the mirror. Before he could register what was happening, the grey Raven reached her hand out of the glass, grabbed Beast Boy by the shirt, and dragged him into the mirror. Beast Boy let out a small scream that was soon swallowed by the portal, and the mirror landed gently on the bed next to the floating Titan.

* * *

Cyborg hung up his arm and returned to looking at the ship. Luckily, she hadn't been damaged too badly in the skirmish with the Gordanian drone fleet, but she was still scuffed up in some places, and there were a few panels on Starfire's section that were coming loose. He made a note of it in his brain and continued his inspection.

Robin, meanwhile, had been listening. Of course he had been working on the ship as well – unpacking all of the rest of their stuff from the little places they had stashed them in the T-Ship to save space – but he couldn't help overhearing Beast Boy and Cyborg's conversation. And while he knew that everyone on the team was entitled to their own secrets – after all, he had several of his own that not even Raven knew, to the best of his knowledge – he was getting a little tired of being kept out of the loop. Where was Beast Boy going? How had he and Cyborg gone someplace without Robin knowing? How was he going to get there without the T-Ship?

"Cyborg," Robin spoke up, unloading some squishy-looking fuzzy pink luggage from Starfire's compartment, "do you think Raven's going to wake up sometime soon?"

Cyborg cleared his throat and answered, "I hope so, man. BB was on the comm just now and he told me he thinks it has something to do with her powers messing up." Though Robin had heard that part of the conversation quite clearly and had already come to a similar conclusion that Cyborg had, he pretended to think this over for a moment.

"It makes sense. Her powers stem from Trigon, and Trigon has been destroyed. It makes sense that they'd be weaker. Maybe her healing slows down when her powers aren't at full capacity," Robin said, rummaging through Starfire's console to see if she'd left anything else. He heard Cyborg let out a little sigh of relief and continue on to the nose of the ship. "What I don't understand, though," Robin continued, "is where Beast Boy is going to fix it. He said he was going 'in'. What does that mean?"

Cyborg had abandoned his feigned interest in the front of the ship and was staring wide-eyed at Robin. He had his "Oh-crap-I'm-in-trouble-now" face on, and Robin knew he'd got him. Robin slid down the side of the ship and landed gracefully in front of Cyborg.

"If you two have some way of helping Raven, why haven't you said anything before?" Robin asked angrily. Cyborg held his hands up in surrender, backing away slightly from his leader.

"It might not work, man! And we've never been there on purpose before! It was an accident a few years ago, BB and I were in Raven's room and we went…" Cyborg drifted off, hesitant to finish.

"Where? What was in Raven's room?" Robin asked impatiently. Cyborg let out a sigh of defeat and sat down with his back against the ship.

"Look, man. Remember our first fight with Dr. Light? How she got all scary?" Robin nodded. "Remember how it went on to the next day and she exploded tofu eggs all over BB's face?" Robin nodded again, clueless as to where this was going. "Well, Beast Boy was in front of her room to apologize, but he was about to chicken out, so I knocked on the door for him, and it fell in. She wasn't there, so we kinda started… snooping around."

"And you're still alive?" Robin quipped, sitting down next to his friend. Now he was more curious than upset, and Cyborg shot him a little smile.

"We almost weren't. We found a mirror and Beast Boy started playing with it until Trigon's eyes sucked us inside of it. And then next thing we know, we wake up in this abyss with floating rocks, and…" Cyborg explained the rest of what happened that day in Nevermore to the best of his abilities, but Robin seemed to keep missing one thing.

"I still don't quite understand. Where exactly _were_ you?" Cyborg growled in frustration.

"Dude! The multi-colored Ravens, the wide-open abysses with the confusing riddles, Trigon?!" Cyborg burst out, "We were in Raven's head!" Robin's eyes got wide and he didn't know whether to slap his own forehead for being an idiot or to slap Cyborg upside his for not telling him.

"You went inside of Raven's mind?!" Robin repeated, standing and beginning to pace, "I mean, it makes sense and you guys did start getting along better, but why is Beast Boy going in now? What could he do in there? It's not like you guys found where her powers are stored or something, right?" Cyborg shook his head.

"Nah, man, just her emotions," he replied, "But I kind of think the whole place was where her powers were. And that's why I'm worried."

"I don't follow."

"If Beast Boy is going into her mind when her powers aren't working right, how do we know he's going to be safe in there? Better yet, how's he going to get out?"

* * *

"WAAAAAAAAAUGH!" Beast Boy screamed as he fell face first from the open mouth of the portal onto a familiar slab of rock. It didn't hurt too much thankfully, but it wasn't like he flopped onto his bed either, so he had a hard time getting up. As he rose, he noticed a pair of grey-booted feet in front of him, and he looked up.

"Timid?" he asked, and the grey-cloaked look-alike of Raven nodded.

"Beast Boy, I'm so glad you're here," she said softly, helping him up and then retreating a few steps.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not mad or anything for dragging me in here. I wanted to come in anyways," Beast Boy said reassuringly, and Timid nodded again.

"I know. I—We heard you. Well, two of us did… But I can't—No, we must hurry. P-Please, come this way?" she said as she led him down a spiraling rock staircase. Beast Boy did as he was asked and followed the part of Raven he felt she showed the most of outwardly.

As they walked, he noticed a few things. For one, there were no more scary demon crows lurking about, which was a relief. But he also noticed that there wasn't much of… anything else around either. He kept looking for any of the other emotions – Happy with her Strawberry Shortcake pocket dimension, Brave beating up some enemy manifested for training, even Rage – but all he saw was the starry backdrop of Raven's mind and the occasional floating stone. There used to be long winding stone paths, landscapes, and canyons. Now it looked fairly barren. He glanced back at Timid's back as she led him but noticed that she looked even more faded than the grey cloak made her look.

"Hey, are you okay?" Beast Boy asked, and Timid moved her head up and down in a diagonal direction. "You look… not all there."

"We… We all are having some problems, Beast Boy," she nearly whispered, but Beast Boy could still hear her with his superb hearing, "A-And Raven is… well, she doesn't want to listen to us even though she nearly always listens to Intelligence, and Rage keeps smashing things at the meeting and even Happy is starting to cry, and—"

"Hey," Beast Boy said, reaching his hand out to her shoulder and turning her to face him, ignoring her flinch, "We'll figure this out. Together, okay?" Timid gave him a watery smile before sniffling and turning back around. Beast Boy stepped downward but the stairs had disappeared and instead he was standing on a regal-looking path to a garden surrounded by purple and black roses.

"Hurry, please," Timid requested and dashed into the garden. Beast Boy shook his head, trying to remember a garden being here the last time he had been in Nevermore, and followed her into the sweet-smelling (if slightly creepy) area. But before he could fully enter where he assumed the emotions were gathered, he bumped into Timid, who motioned for him to remain quiet.

"Stay here, p-please. The others don't know you're here," she informed him before darting quickly into the center of the garden. Beast Boy did as she instructed, turning into a ladybug and resting on a rose petal, and looked at the meeting of the Ravens.

Their meeting place looked to be the most solid thing he'd seen in Nevermore this time around. There was a large white gazebo surrounded by lilac gossamer curtains with several plush black pillows and cushions on the ground. Black candles illuminated the space as they hung in brass lamps above them and, even though a slight breeze seemed to be billowing the curtains a little, the flames of the candles never wavered. The gazebo was surrounded by five large rose bushes, but unlike the outer bushes that were only comprised of purple and black roses, the five each had their own unique color: the largest that seemed to be at the head of the gazebo was dark blue, and the other four had either red, cyan, bright orange, or emerald green roses. Each of the main five bushes had black leaves instead of green, causing the uniquely colored roses to stand out even more obviously.

 _Are those… for us?_ Beast Boy wondered. _Is this her friendship garden or something?_

A jarring "Raven, you must listen to reason!" broke Beast Boy out of his study of the scenery and brought his focus to the meeting taking place in the gazebo. Raven – the real one, wearing her signature blue cloak – sat at the head of the meeting right in front of the dark blue rose bush. He briefly wondered how she could be here when he thought that she had needed to use her mirror last time, but he pushed that aside for the moment. The pink-robed Happy sat directly to Raven's right, followed by Brave and an orange one he easily understood to be Lazy (simply based on the fact that she was trying very hard to nap on Brave's shoulder). Across from Raven sat Intelligence, a yellow Raven with a pair of cute round spectacles covering her eyes. And to Raven's left, there was an empty cushion followed by a bright lavender Raven he'd never seen before and then Rage in between Intelligence and the new Raven. Off to the side of the circle, looking exceptionally bored, was a Raven in brown Beast Boy again had never seen before. He noticed Timid slipping into the circle and taking her place on the empty cushion on Raven's left.

Intelligence continued, "You have no time left. You have tried everything else. Please, you need to listen to us." The real Raven bit her lip.

"Please, Raven, just listen to Intelligence so I can get back to my nap," Lazy commented, and Brave pushed her off her shoulder again. The brown Raven scoffed and sneered at Intelligence and Lazy.

"What do you two know? You've never been faced with this problem before – none of us have. Raven can handle this," she said smugly, but was quickly silenced by the evil look Rage shot her.

"Then why haven't you freed her from her trance, Pride? Why is she still here? She has been healed – wake her up!" Rage snapped, "Oh, wait, you can't! It already took us twice as long as normal to heal her, and now we're drained. WE CAN'T WAKE UP!" Rage rose from her cushion and was about to pounce on the brown-clad Pride, but Intelligence quelled her with one icy stare. Rage huffed and sat back down.

"It is true, Raven. Rage has a point," Intelligence remarked, addressing the real Raven again.

"You've done everything else, every spell you can think of," Brave said, trying to encourage Raven, "Just let us help now!"

"No," Raven finally spoke, "I can't let you all help. You all are too difficult to control, and you could easily hurt someone."

"It doesn't have to be that way!" Happy chirped, pleading with Raven, and Beast Boy flitted over to the green roses on Raven's right behind Happy, "We can work together!" Raven kept quiet, studying Happy. Beast Boy stared right at Raven, sure that she couldn't see him (green on green is kind of hard to spot). However, a slight giggle caused his attention to turn to the lavender Raven, and he could have sworn that she winked at him quickly before returning her attention to their leader. Beast Boy started to get a little nervous, but Timid spoke up.

"Raven, I…" Timid tried, but when she trailed off, Intelligence took back over.

"The bottom line is, Raven, your methods are failing. All of my assets, all of my libraries have been exhausted in your search for your lost strength. I cannot help you any more than I have," Intelligence said, adjusting her spectacles, "You've relied on your brain all you can. Now you have to rely on your emotions."

"But…" Raven started, clenching her fist. Intelligence sighed in frustration and turned to the lavender emotion.

"Affection? Do you have anything you'd like to add?" she asked, but Pride scoffed again.

"She never does. Out of all of us, Raven lets her out the least. I'm surprised she's even here," the brown emotion practically snarled. Affection (Beast Boy was absolutely blown away that she even had that emotion because he wasn't sure he'd ever seen it) blushed a little and bowed her head, her sweet smile fading.

"Really, Pride? Was that necessary?" Brave snapped, and Rage growled. Pride just ignored them.

"Well, I want her to speak," Intelligence said, "Affection?"

The lavender emotion inhaled deeply before turning her exceptionally purple eyes to the already amethyst eyes of the genuine Raven. Speaking frankly and in a slightly silkier voice than Raven's normally gravelly one, she said, "We are a part of you, Raven. And I know your friends would help you with us if you let them. I care about them… We all care about your friends. Because _you_ care about your friends. You won't hurt them. And even if you accidentally do…" She briefly glanced at the rosebush where Beast Boy was hiding, and he gulped before she finished, "I'm sure they'll help you fix it."

Raven herself closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Beast Boy still wasn't entirely sure what was going on, even after hearing the full conversation, but he could tell that Raven was going to make a very important decision.

* * *

~ commercial break ~

* * *

It had been an hour. Soand'r and his sister had been walking in silence for an hour. And Darya was getting sick of it.

She knew it wasn't her place to interject. She was only a servant – though an admittedly high-ranking one – employed by the royal family to protect the heir to the Tamaranean throne. She was a researcher who used her expertise to do her job of protecting her liege better than anyone else. But in the many many many _many_ hours spent in her lord Soand'r's company, she had never been so frustrated as she was an hour after her liege had taken the first step to repairing the relationship with his sister he had foolishly destroyed, even if it was the only option.

Darya knew how badly Soand'r wanted to fix his relationship with Koriand'r. She had spent many nights on the Centauri Moons watching over him as he silently wept or called her name in his sleep while begging for her not to be taken. She had counseled him through the worst of his regret and had role-played with him over what he should say when he saw her again. And even she was excited to see the princess again – she had always had a soft spot for the sweet and carefree little girl who would tag along behind her big brother or ask Darya herself to play with her. Darya wanted Soand'r to have his sister back.

So when she finally cleared her throat to get their attention, even though it was against her own personal code of non-interference with matters regarding the royal family, she was beyond frustrated.

"Milord Soand'r," she said, a hint of anger coloring her voice, "did you have a destination or a purpose in mind when you proposed this walk? Because I can surely think of a few other duties that require your attention." Darya didn't care if she came off as mean – she just wanted to get them moving. Soand'r looked exceptionally surprised, his dark purple-black eyebrows disappearing into his same-colored bangs, and Starfire looked at her in confusion.

"Brother? Did you need to be someplace?" Starfire asked guiltily, and Darya smiled internally. _There. Now, tell her that she is your priority, milord, and then we can get this moving._

"No, Sister, I only need to be here. I simply am having trouble thinking of how to begin saying what I need to say to you," Soand'r confessed, just as Darya had planned. Starfire nodded in understanding.

"I too am having difficulties. There are so many things I wish to ask you, Brother. I do not know where to begin," she confessed. Darya softened even more than she already had toward the princess and surreptitiously shot her employer a look.

 _This is it, milord. Proceed with caution,_ she thought, and Soand'r nodded.

"Perhaps we could cover the basics first, Sister. I am very eager to hear more about your time on Earth and your friends. Perhaps you could tell me what I could do to make them happy, seeing as they are going to be here for the foreseeable future," he said kindly, and Starfire brightened.

"Oh, I would be elated to share with you all about my friends! What would you like to know first?" Starfire asked, actually floating in the air with joy. Soand'r's eyes brightened at this obvious sign of happiness and allowed himself to float next to her.

"I wish to know more about all of them, but perhaps you could tell me about your green friend first," he said.

"Friend Beast Boy is very funny! I do not understand all of his jokes, but the ones I do comprehend are very funny. Except for this one time where he pulled what is known as a 'prank', which means…" Starfire began to babble as the siblings floated down the hallway. Darya followed behind them, proud of herself.

 _I do hope this is the first of many positive steps in the right direction, milord._ Darya thought. And she knew he heard her.

* * *

Robin and Cyborg had sat in silence since Cyborg had explained everything nearly an hour ago. They were worried – worried about Starfire bonding with her brother, worried about Raven and her powers, worried about Beast Boy being trapped in Raven's mind. And what was worse was that they were two incredibly skilled and powerful young men and they could do nothing to help.

Robin sighed and Cyborg looked over at him. "What, man?"

Robin stared straight ahead as he spoke, "We've been a team for so long. Four years. We're almost adults, Cyborg. But we've taken for granted that we know everything about each other when we obviously don't. I'm just wondering if there's any other gigantic earth-shattering thing I don't know about my team. …About my friends."

Cyborg considered what Robin said for a moment before clearing his throat and saying, "I had a girlfriend."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Her name was Marcy Reynolds. She was… amazing. She was smart, sweet, and the prettiest girl at my school. Even though we were only fifteen, I thought I loved her. I thought she loved me too, man…" Cyborg said, deliberately not looking at Robin. Robin stayed silent, knowing that obviously wasn't the end of the story. Cyborg continued on the tail end of a sigh, "When the… accident happened… when I got my new parts, she… she took one look at me, screamed that I was a freak, and broke up with me on the spot. I tried to change her mind, but…"

Robin refused to say anything, but he never took his eyes off his friend.

"She asked why I even bothered to come back because things could never be the same. She even…" Robin could see a tear roll down the human half of Cyborg's face as he said the last words in a monotone, "She asked, 'God, Victor, why didn't you just _die_ …'"

"Vic…" Robin whispered, using Cyborg's real name for the first time since the formation of the team.

"It's okay, Grayson," Cyborg replied, clapping his large metal hand on Robin's shoulder, "I asked my dad that same thing when I woke up. Why couldn't he have just let me…"

"Because it wasn't your time, Vic," Robin said, grabbing the top of Cyborg's head and forcing Cyborg to look at him, "Look, Raven told me that when she looked into her future when she was young, she always saw Trigon. But she also always saw the five of us together, though she never believed that it would really happen. We – the five of us – are supposed to be together, however we are, because that's our family. This is where we belong. Whatever happened to us in the past made us who we are now so we can be together and do the amazing things we do every day."

Cyborg's eyes focused on the spiky-haired martial artist in front of him and saw, even through the mask, that Robin believed everything he was telling him. He could also see that, though he had used Raven as an example, Robin had believed something similar to her; he had believed that he would never have friends either, never have anyone except his mentor and his butler. And as good as the men who raised Robin were, they weren't the same as friends, as their team.

It was then that Cyborg remembered something Raven had said when she was facing her father: "I was _protected_ by the monks of Azarath. I was _raised_ by my friends. They are my family, this is my home." He had thought the idea of the Titans raising her as if she were a child a little strange at the time, but taking the time to think about it like he was now, he saw more truth in it. The Titans had all raised each other. They had cared for one another, even when they weren't sure how to take care of themselves. They had helped each other grow and stood by each other when they couldn't stand on their own.

Cyborg could even see the roles they each played in their family; Robin was the father, authoritative and mature. Starfire was the mom, all smiles and warm love. Cyborg was the oldest brother, mature and skilled but still able to be weak. Raven, the disaffected middle child who secretly loved being surrounded and hugged by family. And Beast Boy, the baby brother so incorrigible that you always forgave him. They had raised Raven and she had helped raise them.

 _And we aren't done growing up yet,_ Cyborg thought and smiled. Cyborg had recently celebrated his nineteenth birthday, and he still felt he had a lot to learn. Robin was eighteen, and Raven's own eighteenth birthday had been especially eventful. Starfire had taken a while to figure out how old she was in Earth years, but eventually her math led her to conclude that she was seventeen. And Beast Boy was easily the youngest (and grumpiest about it) at sixteen, though his seventeenth birthday was coming up.

The two sat in silence again for a short time longer until Cyborg pulled Robin to his large chest and gave him a fierce noogie attack. "Ow! Cut it out!" Robin laughed, and Cyborg just rubbed harder.

"You can never figure out when I'm gonna get you, man! For someone with great reflexes, you suck at dodging!" he laughed back, and they both felt better. By tacit agreement, they returned to looking over the ship, but they could both feel that new ground had been gained and their bond had been strengthened.

Not that either of them would ever admit anything that sappy out loud.

"I… can't," Raven finally said, and everyone else present (including Beast Boy, though Raven didn't know that) let out some noise of dissatisfaction.

"Your weakness is what is going to trap you here, Raven!" Rage roared.

"Why do you fear us so much?" Happy said, oddly on the brink of tears. Raven looked around at her emotions, lost. What was she supposed to do? She knew exactly what havoc her emotions could wreak. When Starfire and she had switched bodies, Starfire's lack of control had melted metal, exploded cars, bent lamp posts, and sent pieces of buildings raining down on unsuspecting people. If Raven, who had many more spells under her sleeve, let that kind of power out with an emotional outburst… She shook her head. She refused to cause that kind of destruction. She'd be no different than Trigon.

She was jerked from her thoughts by Timid tugging on her sleeve. "Yes, Timid?"

"I… Raven, you will always have control over us. We are you. We are only pieces of you," she said softly, and everyone in the circle paid rapt attention to the fearful entity, "Do you want to be trapped in your own head for the rest of your life?"

"No, of course I don't. But…"

"You're afraid," Timid answered for her and gave a watery smile, "Trust me, I know. But why?"

"…I don't know how to do this. I don't know how to… feel. And I really don't know how to feel enough to strengthen my powers," Raven said, and she could have sworn she heard a tiny gasp to her right.

"You're not alone, Raven," Timid said, "We know how to feel. That's what we do." Affection giggled softly and fixed her gaze directly on Beast Bug.

"And I know a certain someone who's been trying to help you feel for years," Affection said, and with a quick wink, she morphed Beast Boy from his ladybug form to his normal human appearance. All of Raven's emotions except Timid and Affection leaped up in surprise and stared at him as he scrambled to his feet. Raven herself, however, glared at him, and Rage wasted no time in tearing into the thin green changeling.

"You were spying on us?!" Rage bellowed, and Beast Boy cringed.

"Yes! I mean, no! I mean, I was brought here!" he said, holding his hands in front of him defensively.

"Why did you come here?" Rage barked, and Beast Boy glared at the emotion before turning his attention to the real person he came to help.

"Because we've all been worried, Rae!" he cried, and Raven's eyes softened (Rage reluctantly calmed down), even ignoring the dumb nickname that he liked to give her. "You've been out for almost six hours! And you haven't been out for this long since the Beast!"

"You're right, it is taking a while. But I'm fine, I'm all healed—"

"You're NOT fine! You're anything but fine if your powers aren't working and you can't wake up!" Beast Boy yelled, gripping his hair with his hands and tugging at it out of frustration. "You keep telling me that you're fine. You've been telling me that for months, ever since the end of the world, but I never believed you. And I knew I was right! You're not fine! Just please, Raven, please tell me what's going on!" He begged this last sentence as he flopped onto Happy's former cushion on his knees.

Raven surveyed the green infiltrator in front of her. He looked as upset as he sounded. His chest was heaving with angry and frightened breathing. His eyes looked about to flood. And even though Raven hated to see it, his normally happy face was lined with worry and… guilt? Raven sighed. Even though he could move mountains with his patented Face – that cute kitten with huge eyes and a sweet meow – she felt that this face in front of her right now would even be able to move the impassive monks of Azarath to pity.

"All right," she sighed again, and she could feel her emotions inching closer toward them as she spoke, "I've been having trouble since we defeated my father."

"Your powers came from him, right? So now that he's gone, your powers are weaker," he said, and her eyebrows raised slightly.

"Ooh, he's been paying attention!" Happy squealed, and Affection smiled at Beast Boy, who blushed.

" _Anyways_ ," Raven growled, "I've been having trouble sustaining my powers the way I used to when I need them in battle. And I don't know how to fix—"

"Yes, she does, but she refuses to do it!" Brave spoke up, sticking her tongue out at Raven, who closed her eyes in resignation.

"She has to use us! We have power too!" Happy explained.

"You've experienced it yourself, haven't you, Beast Boy?" Affection asked sweetly. Beast Boy nodded.

"Yeah, when we were fighting Trigon. We had to get angry in order to hit him. It was…"

"Quite the rush, wasn't it?" Pride remarked knowingly, "The most powerful you've ever felt in your life." Beast Boy considered for a second, then nodded. "That's how Raven could be if she used us. We'd be able to do more than Trigon's influence ever could because we are part of her, not just something he donated to her. But she refuses to listen to us." Affection broke away from the little pack of emotions and knelt in front of Beast Boy.

"Affection, what are you—" Raven started, but Affection cut her off gently.

"She thinks she will lose control and hurt you all – physically, mentally, emotionally, in any way. She thinks you will hate her if she does something wrong," Affection explained, "What do you think, Garfield?"

Beast Boy's eyebrows shot so high up that they almost left his face; Raven had never used his real name before, and here was Affection calling him by it. He hadn't even realized she'd known, but then he remembered that the Tower computer has all their data in it – including all of their real names – and Raven was often put in charge of cleaning out the files. Of course she would have seen his name.

"Garfield?" Affection repeated, "Are you all right?"

"Uh, yeah! Heh, I just…"

"Wasn't expecting me to know your real name?" the lavender emotion giggled, "I think it's adorable. It certainly fits your favorite feline form." Beast Boy smiled and turned into the kitten he was most known for. All of the emotions (except Pride and Rage, who were studiously ignoring his cuteness) cooed at how cute he was. But he hadn't lost sight of why he'd come in here. Beast Boy turned to the real Raven and looked her dead in the eyes. They stared at each other for a little while – kitten and gothic sorceress – before he morphed back into himself, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Raven, you are creepy," he said bluntly, and Timid flinched. The rest of them looked at him confusedly, but Affection smiled knowingly while Raven stared at him in hurt and confusion. "You're weird and you always stay in your room and you never talk to me unless you want to insult me and you drink way too much herbal tea and I think you really need to smile more."

"Thanks," Raven said bitterly and began to turn away, but Beast Boy didn't let her. He grabbed her face with both hands and smushed her cheeks in both of his hands so that her lips pursed like a goldfish, forcing her to look at him.

"But you're our friend just the way you are. Starfire would be crushed without you. Cyborg wouldn't have anyone to work on his car or gang up on me with. Robin literally went to hell and back for you, and he trusts you. And I…" Beast Boy smiled his big dopey grin at her and released her face so she could look at him seriously, "You're my best friend, Rae! We all need you to be okay, and we will help you work on controlling your powers. But we've always wanted you to feel comfortable, Rae. We want you to be happy, whatever that takes."

She studied him for a moment before whispering hoarsely, "I'm your best friend?"

"Yeah! I mean, yeah, we fight sometimes, but I think you're the best, Raven. And, well…" His big dopey grin changed into one more sheepish than she was used to on him, "You're the only one I've ever gone Beast for, you know."

"Beast Boy…" Raven said, her eyes fully softening into a vulnerable look he'd only seen once before – when a deceitful dragon had taken advantage of a lonely sorceress and Beast Boy had tried to comfort her – and he patted her head. She murmured, "I'm going to need some help."

"Anything!" Beast Boy said. She stood and grabbed his arm to lift him up off his knees. He stood and he had barely gotten his balance when she yanked him out of the gazebo and down a path that had mysteriously appeared behind the bush full of dark blue roses, and he followed as quickly as he could. Before they had fully exited the garden, she turned to her emotions and scrutinized them before saying in a tight voice, "I will trust you all this one time. Come on."

The Raven-alikes all beamed (except for Rage, who snarled happily) and scrambled to follow the two Titans. They all wound down a path until they reached a familiar portal that Beast Boy and Cyborg had exited the last time they had been in Nevermore, but Beast Boy gasped when he saw that it was completely dark and still.

"It's not working?" he asked, and she nodded.

"This portal is how I get out of here too. That's why I haven't woken up," she answered, and motioned to the ground in front of the portal. With a wave of her hand, eight plinths erupted from the ground, each colored like one of the emotions buzzing excitedly behind the two of them. Once all of the plinths had risen from the ground, the emotions fluttered over to the corresponding color. Lazy flopped down onto her plinth, and immediately it lit up. This, in turn, caused the portal glow ever so slightly.

"Hey! We got one already!" Beast Boy said, "Just all of the harder ones are left!" At this, Happy burst out laughing, and her plinth lit up and the portal began to swirl faintly. Beast Boy gave Raven a huge smile and smugly said, "I knew you thought I was funny."

"Oh, shut up," Rage snapped, and her plinth practically caught on fire. The portal began to hum as the lights inside of it began to writhe even more. Raven shot Intelligence a look, and Intelligence sighed in resignation.

"Fine, fine," she said, and the yellow platform began to glow with similar results to the last three. Half of the plinths glowed while the other half of them were still blank. Beast Boy scratched his head.

"This is harder than I thought," he said honestly, "but I know we can do this. If anyone is good with emotions, it's me!" Raven gave him a little smile, and Beast Boy was mildly stunned.

"How is it that you never give up?" Raven asked him seriously, and her emotions fixated on him, eager for his answer. He shrugged and looked at his feet, shoveling them into the ground.

"Well, I usually think about how hard you work, Raven," he said honestly, and Raven's eyebrows raised so high he could no longer see them beneath her hood, "Look, just because I want you to come and hang out with us more doesn't mean I don't get how hard you try. I mean, didn't Intelligence say you've been searching everywhere for a way to fix your problem? You always put others first – you became a hero to help people even though you knew you were going to hurt them!" At this, both Pride and Brave's platform's lit up, but he didn't stop talking. "You're really amazing, Raven."

Timid squeaked from her platform as both it and Raven's face lit up ever so slightly. Seven of the eight plinths had been activated, but Affection's remained blank. Beast Boy was at a loss as to what to do so he looked at the emotion for help.

"Come on, Garfield. You can do it. We've met once before, you know," Affection said sweetly, batting her eyelashes earnestly. Beast Boy considered her words as he looked back at the slightly blushing Raven beside him. She looked up at him nervously, Timid still being at the forefront of her mind, and Beast Boy remembered when he had last encountered Affection.

"You think you're alone, Raven," he said kindly, giving her his best and biggest smile, "but you're not." Raven remembered when last she heard those words as Beast Boy grabbed her around her neck in a sweet squeezy hug. She looked over his shoulder as she remembered Malchior's betrayal. The last time she had experienced a hug had been after the last battle with her father. But the first hug she'd given in so long had been to Beast Boy, after the last time she had truly let her emotions get the better of her. She had let her guard down only to have it be raised again, higher than before, right after that last hug ended.

But this time, it was Beast Boy hugging _her_ , Beast Boy encouraging her, Beast Boy doing everything in his power to free both of them from the prison she had created for herself. He had worried for her, figured out what she had been hiding from everyone just based on him watching her, and came to help her without being asked. Why?

 _Because he cares, Raven,_ Affection's silky voice rang out in only her ears, and Raven couldn't help herself. She wrapped her arms around Beast Boy's back and squeezed him earnestly. Once she had reciprocated the hug, Affection's plinth glowed a warm purple color. The portal roared and the both could feel Nevermore return to its former life. They broke from the hug to see Nevermore reconstruct itself: Happy's air freshener world, Timid's winding labyrinth, Brave's training statues, and all of the other mini worlds her other emotions inhabited.

"Raven! You did it!" Beast Boy said, bouncing up and down happily and pumping an arm in the air victoriously.

"No," she said bluntly, killing his mood, "we did it." Beast Boy's mood resurrected itself and he tugged on her forearm as he headed for the portal, passing the other Ravens powering the portal.

"Come on, Rae! Let's go!" he cheered, tugging her along. Raven glanced back at her emotions, but she noticed all of them had disappeared except Affection. Affection smiled at Raven and waved after them, her eyes lingering on Beast Boy for longer than Raven liked, but the next instant Raven could not see anything.

* * *

~ commercial break ~

* * *

Blackness spit Beast Boy back into his chair outside of the mirror, and Beast Boy quickly looked around to gain his bearings.

 _Right, I'm in Raven's room on Tamaran. Not the Tower. Got it. Man, this is going to take some getting used to._ Beast Boy's focus then turned onto the girl who was no longer hovering over her bed. Hoping for the best, he pressed the alert button on his communicator to tell the Titans to come to his location and tentatively poked her shoulder.

"Raven?" he whispered, "Are you there? Can you… wake up?"

"…Thank you, Beast Boy," Raven murmured and her eyes opened slightly. Beast Boy grinned down at her.

"How do you feel?"

"I'm fine, Beast Boy. I told you I was already healed." Beast Boy raised one eyebrow slyly and gave her a silly grin.

"No, I mean… how do you _feel_?" he asked meaningfully and she rolled her eyes.

"One step at a time, okay?" she said, and the other three Titans burst into the room to check on their friend. Starfire flew over to Raven and wrapped her in a hug.

"Raven, you are unharmed and no longer floating in your sleep! Glorious!" Starfire squealed, hugging Raven gently and sitting on the bed next to her.

"Star, go easy on her, she just got over a concussion!" Cyborg warned with a smile. He pinched Raven's cheek and wiggled it a little bit, and if looks could kill, Cyborg would be dead a few times over. Robin just crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a little grin, which she returned.

"You feeling okay?" he asked.

"Much better."

"Got everything resolved?" he asked. Raven scrutinized her leader briefly and wondered how much the others knew about her new situation. She would tell them, she knew, but not yet. She wanted to go slowly in this new territory (even Beast Boy knowing about it made Timid a little antsy, but Happy would also be a little more active) and knew Robin would understand. She could tell.

"For now," she confirmed, and the Titans all converged onto her bed (much to her dismay) and spent the next few hours talking about all the things Starfire and her brother had discussed and what Cyborg had told Robin. Somehow Beast Boy could tell that Raven didn't want to talk about what happened in her mind, so he didn't mention it, for which Raven was very grateful.

 _See? Having fun with your friends is not so bad. Nothing is exploding!_ Happy commented in Raven's head.

 _Yes, it seems as though without Trigon's influence we have a larger capacity to express ourselves. We can do a bit more without causing any accidental damage,_ Intelligence commented.

Raven knew her emotions were right, that she had a little more room to stretch her feelings than before. But those uncharted waters of emotion still scared her, and she looked out the window at the purple-tinted sky. She was jolted back to the moment by the feeling of Beast Boy's cheek pressing against her own.

"Soooooo, Raven," he said, "knock knock!" The other Titans looked at them anxiously, waiting for Beast Boy to be launched out of the window.

 _Oh, for the love of Azar,_ Rage grumbled.

 _Hush, you, he's trying to make her happy!_ Affection admonished, _Come on, Raven. Humor him. Meet him halfway. You can do it._

Raven gave him a little smile – which absolutely stunned the other Titans – and said, "Who's there?"


	4. Episode 4: Like Me

**Episode 4: Like Me**

Living in a palace and being a special royal guest had its own perks, Robin realized. While he was more used to the state of the art equipment in the Tower, Shiora had taken several hours of her time to instruct him and Cyborg on how to use their Tamaranean systems. His room was larger and stuffed to the brim with anything he asked for, though he mostly stuck to training materials provided by Firid'n. He could upgrade all of his equipment in Darya's laboratory and help her in return. He could discuss tactics with Al'krr, who was brilliant after only a few years of study.

And he could ask any question he wanted and receive an answer. He was not used to this. While he enjoyed his time in Gotham, Bruce Wayne had kept important things from him. Here, though, he didn't need to go digging to find out the things he needed to know, and he liked it.

So when he, about two weeks into their stay, asked Soulfire a question and received a lie in response, he got suspicious.

"Hey, Soulfire!" Robin called to the prince as he and his bodyguard were walking toward the back gardens.

"Greetings, Robin. How may I be of assistance to you?" Soulfire replied cordially. The three continued to walk, Darya following behind, and they entered the lush green and purple jungle.

"When do you think we're going to begin peace talks with the Gordanians? We've been here for two weeks, and we need to get back to Earth as soon as possible."

"I am afraid I do not know for certain," Soulfire responded honestly, "King Daktaal has not granted any of my requests for a meeting. I believe there is something holding him back." Robin grew curious and stopped their progress. Soulfire turned to him.

"Do you know what it might be?"

"No, I do not," Soulfire lied, "but I intend to find out." Robin studied the young man. He held himself steady, his broad shoulders did not slump or twitch, and he looked directly into Robin's eyes. But Robin was amazing at telling a lie from the truth, and he could tell just by the little twitch in Soulfire's jade green eyes and the slightest tic that touched the corner of his mouth that the prince was lying.

"All right," Robin said diplomatically, "that's not very helpful of him, but we can't do anything about that. It'd be too dangerous to go there ourselves."

"Most certainly," Soulfire agreed, then suddenly changed the topic after a short reprieve. "My sister speaks very highly of you, Robin."

Robin stifled a blush and asked, "Does she?"

"Of course. She spoke of how you were her primary teacher when she came to Earth, how you were the one she learned English through lip contact from, and how you are her best friend." Robin smiled.

"I'm glad she thinks so," he said, reaching out to touch one of the plants, "She's my best friend too."

"I see," Soulfire said, also marveling at one of the plants away from Robin. He then said under his breath to Darya, "It is such a shame…" But Robin heard him.

"What?"

"It is nothing, Robin," Soulfire lied again, and Robin didn't even need his training to tell he was lying. But since he was on unfamiliar territory, he decided not to pursue it.

"Okay," Robin said, turning back toward the entrance of the gardens, "I'm heading back in. Let me know if you need me."

"I will, Robin," Soulfire responded, waving kindly as Darya stood in her militant position. Robin entered the hallway to the castle and stalked straight up to his room. First, he was going to find out what Soulfire was hiding from him about King Daktaal.

Then he was going to find out what, exactly, was such a shame.

* * *

~ insert theme song here ~

* * *

Cyborg had been delighted to learn that the royal palace had not one but three laboratories stationed inside of it. One was for Darya and her staff of scientists, who were incredibly busy trying to outfit the Tamaranean army in case war _did_ break out. One was for scientists working on restoring Tamaran's plant life, and their research had been coming along fairly well, if slowly.

And the third housed Shiora's workshop, which had also become Cyborg's charging station/bedroom for the duration of their stay. Shiora had gladly surrendered it to him, and he'd spent the last two weeks since their arrival tailoring it to his specific needs with the different (albeit still exceptional) Tamaranean tech he had to work with.

Cyborg was working on building a security camera network when he heard a large fist knocking on the door.

"Come on in!" he called, busy coding his program and not looking at the door. He knew who it was anyways.

"Looks like you've made yourself quite at home, sonny!" Shiora boomed, looking around the room. The left half still had all her equipment for maintenance and repairs, but instead of strewn about, Cyborg had taken the time to organize it. He had hung her spare parts on the wall – four legs and five eyes neatly placed within easy reach of her stool – and organized her tools in drawers below the workbench. His side of the room was sleek and similar to his room back home, complete with a charging table and several screens along the wall, though they were currently blank as he had not installed the security cameras yet.

"Well, I figured we were gonna be here for a while," Cyborg confessed sheepishly as he turned from his nearly-finished code, "so I wanted to contribute a little. I'm going to be taking up a lot of your space."

"And I'm glad you are!" she said, clapping him hard on the back. Cyborg was not surprised that he could actually feel her hulking palm hitting his back more than he usually did. "You're really useful, Cyborg. I'm happy to give you a room that you can work with. And this 'security camera' thing sounds like a good idea."

"Works great in our tower. It's just in case the bad guys get bold enough to try to sneak into the castle. If someone trips one of the camera's motion sensors," Cyborg tapped the metal side of his skull, "I'll know about it." Shiora laughed boisterously and patted his head a little too hard.

"You're a good kid, you know that?" she said smilingly, "Do you need any help?"

"Soon. I'm almost done writing the program for the cameras. Then I have to install them. You can help me with that."

"Sounds good! Mind if I stay here for a while until you're ready?" Cyborg paused for a second; not very many people wanted to watch him work. He kind of liked it.

"Sure," he replied, and went back to his computer. She, in turn, moseyed over to her workbench and began to work on another one of her spare legs. It took her a minute to find the proper tools in the new drawers that Cyborg had put them in, but once she did, she began to carefully dismantle the leg and repair a loose wire.

Cyborg couldn't help but marvel at her. Aside from Fixit, he'd never met anyone else as close to his situation as she was. He felt a mix of sadness and relief, but he didn't say anything about it as he continued coding.

* * *

"Come, Raven! Let us train!" Starfire pleaded with her friend. She had been trying every excuse she could think of to get Raven out of her room since she had woken up, and while Raven appreciated Starfire's desire to spend time with her, she just wasn't quite ready to jump straight into the world of emotions with the most emotional person she knew. However, after rejecting her for ten days straight, Raven had reluctantly let Starfire in and she was regretting her decision ever so slightly. Starfire continued to babble, "We have not had a battle in several days, and I fear I will become covered in rust!"

"You won't get rusty," Raven subtly corrected, "And I don't need to train – I only need to meditate."

"Please, Raven, I wish to practice. I do not want to be caught in a trap again," Starfire begged, and Raven relented; Starfire had been having a rough time the last couple of weeks. The least she could do was humor her.

"All right, come on." Raven led Starfire out onto her fairly large balcony similar to the one Starfire had affixed to her own room, and got into a fighting stance. "Whenever you're ready."

Starfire eagerly stretched and matched Raven's fighting stance. Soon the pair took off from the ground and began to train in earnest. Starfire threw her starbolts at Raven, who easily dodged them. Raven then lifted up one of the benches that someone had put on her balcony and attempted to use it as a bat to swat Starfire out of the sky, but she shattered the bench with her eyebeams and charged toward Raven, arms extended and glowing with another attack. Raven put up a shield and attempted to grab her with a black energy arm, but she missed. Starfire kicked against the shield to propel herself back into the sky and sent starbolts flying back at Raven in her wake.

"Glorious!" Starfire cheered, "Your powers have regained their former strength!" Raven gave Starfire a little smile.

"I told you, I just need to meditate," Raven commented, using the shards of the destroyed bench as homing missiles. The pieces flew toward Starfire who blasted them all into smithereens with her eyebolts. "Your aim is getting better with your eyebolts."

"Wonderful! I have been trying to practice," Starfire admitted and Raven gave her a strange look. By unspoken agreement the both of them descended to the ground. Raven turned to her friend and beckoned her to come back inside. They both got into meditation positions on Raven's bed and looked at each other closely. Raven spoke first.

"Did you want to practice with me today to see if my powers were working?" she asked. Starfire blushed and shook her head no, but she quickly shifted into nodding yes.

"I offer apologies, Raven. I have not been a good friend to you of late…" she said sullenly. Raven raised her eyebrow.

"That's news to me," she said.

"It… Well… ever since the defeat of Trigon, you have been wanting 'the space.' I decided that I must to give you the space, but it seemed as though the space did not want to go away," Starfire confessed, outlining her boot with her finger as Raven listened closely, "Please do not be angry with me. I asked the others if they knew why your powers had not worked, and finally Beast Boy told me…"

"He did, did he?" Raven growled, planning a very quiet murder later that night. Starfire grabbed Raven's wrists to quell the murderous thoughts she knew she was having.

"Please do not harm Beast Boy. He tried not to tell me, but I forced him to."

Raven paused for a moment before she said, "Fine. I won't get mad at him."

"Please be mad at me instead. I have been wanting to reach you, but I do not know how without making you feel without the comfort. I am… not a good friend," Starfire finished, hanging her head low, and Raven awkwardly raised her hand. She knew what she should do – she should pat Starfire on the shoulder and tell her that she wasn't a bad friend. She just didn't know _how_ to do it without sounding patronizing. She did the first part just fine. She reached out and stroked Starfire's bright garnet hair and Starfire whimpered in appreciation. The words on the other hand, just wouldn't come.

They sat there, Starfire sulking and Raven awkwardly petting her friend, until there was a knock on the door. The girls both looked over and Raven called, "Come in?" Firid'n burst through the door, slamming it so hard that it cracked the wall, and rushed over to Raven's bed. He then seemed to remember his place (if his suddenly panicked face was any indication) and knelt before them, his bald head glinting in the light.

"Princess Koriand'r, Lady Raven, Prince Regent Soand'r wishes to see you both in the throne room," he informed them formally. Then he looked up at them with a worried look on his face and said as an afterthought, "Um, please?"

"Of course, Firid'n," Starfire agreed, and Raven nodded. She couldn't really hide in her room from a royal invitation, much as she wished she could. Firid'n rose back to his feet, smoothed his goatee, and waited for them by the door. Then he led them to the ground floor of the palace to a familiar throne room. It had been repaired in the months since the Titans had last seen it, and Raven felt slightly apprehensive as she walked through the grandly decorated hall. She had not explored the castle for two reasons: she knew she would get lost (she dreaded to think what would happen to Beast Boy if he tried to navigate through there) and she still felt mildly uncomfortable being seen by any Tamaranean other than the royal family's staff.

Soulfire was sitting on the throne at the head of the hall, though he looked a little uneasy. Darya stood slightly behind him to his right and Al'krr stood directly to his left. Firid'n led the two girls to the foot of the throne and gestured grandly.

"The princess and her friend Raven, milord," he said goofily, making Starfire giggle and even Raven crack a smile. Soulfire nodded and rose from his seat. He looked fairly nervous as he approached his sister.

"Sister, I have a request," he said, and Starfire's eyes widened.

"Of course, Brother. I will do what I can to help," she replied, and Raven paid even closer attention.

"It would please me if you and the other Titans could include Al'krr in your training sessions and instruct him on Earth culture. He will be acting as my ambassador once this conflict is over, and any association he has with people of Earth would be good practice," Soulfire explained, and Starfire beamed happily at him.

"That would be most glorious, Brother! Al'krr is very welcome to join us. And I am so very pleased that he will be coming to Earth – it is such a wondrous place," she gushed, but Raven eyed the alien in question suspiciously. The Titans had been on Tamaran for nearly two weeks – why hadn't this been brought up before? She then looked at Soulfire with the same measure of suspicion. He looked far too nervous for this to be the only favor on his mind. But since she had no evidence and no other reason to suspect anything, she kept her mouth shut. Soulfire grinned, relieved, and gestured to Al'krr, who stepped forward respectfully.

"I am honored that you will be aiding me in learning about Earth's culture, Princess Koriand'r," he said in his deep voice before turning to address Raven, "And I am honored that you will be helping as well, Miss Raven."

"Actually, I need to speak with Robin. But," Raven said, struck with an urgent need to speak to their leader about this suspicious behavior, "I think Beast Boy would be a better choice in helping you. I wasn't born on Earth either, so he knows even more than I do." Starfire floated up and down in happiness and clapped giddily.

"Yes, that is a splendid idea! Come, Al'krr, let us find friend Beast Boy!" she squeaked, excited to introduce someone else to the wonders of Earth.

"I will join you shortly, princess. I must speak briefly with the prince before I take my leave," Al'krr dismissed gently, and Starfire flew back the way they came and out the door. Raven herself flew up to the ceiling of the throne room and phased herself through. But instead of heading directly toward Robin's room, she re-phased her ear back through and tried to catch a piece of their remaining conversation.

"…that way she will not have a problem with it when I propose the idea to her," Soulfire finished as he returned to his seat. He sounded more relaxed than he had before, and Raven realized she had been right.

"Yes, milord," Al'krr agreed, "I believe this is the best course of action as well for both aims." Raven heard someone cough and Soulfire asked, "Do you have something you wish to interject, Darya?"

"No, sir," she said immediately, "just something in my throat. But do you wish to hear my concern?"

"By all means."

"I was merely wondering, sir," she began with no hint of hesitation (a trait that Raven had found she liked about the prince's bodyguard), "if you had considered the princess's feelings about your plan."

"She seemed really excited to me," Firid'n piped up, obviously confused, though Raven didn't know about what.

"She only knows of Al'krr's future position on Earth. She does not know the rest of your plan, sir," she said frankly.

"Baby steps, Darya. We will address all of that when the time comes. But I feel that this course of action will allow for appropriate time to adjust for all involved," Soulfire replied.

"Of course, milord," Darya said, but Raven could hear that she didn't approve and liked her even more. Raven finally heard Al'krr make his way to the door to join Starfire and decided she had heard enough. Phasing easily through the walls with her worry and suspicion fueling her, she flew off in search of her leader.

* * *

~ commercial break ~

* * *

"Thanks for helping me install the cameras, Shiora. This is really helping me out," Cyborg said as he was perched on top of Shiora's shoulders. Shiora herself was hovering above the main doorway so that Cyborg could attach the necessary wires and screw the device in without the use of a ladder. (He realized shortly after he had asked for a ladder that ladders did not exist on Tamaran – who needed a ladder when everyone could fly?)

"No trouble at all, Cyborg!" she boomed jovially, shifting him slightly on her shoulders to make herself more comfortable, "Anything to help with this security system you have for us."

"It's no problem at all, girl. All part of our job of keeping the planet safe, right?" he replied, connecting two wires together. The camera in his hand whirred to life and Cyborg began attaching it to the wall.

"Very right," Shiora said confidently, and Cyborg was struck again with how positive she was. He had gotten to know her a little bit in the past two weeks and was amazed at her strength. She had not only raised the prince but her own son as well and still had found the time to become a war hero during the first great conflict alongside her husband. And in the process of saving three entire villages from destruction, she had lost her leg and her eye. When it was decided that Soulfire needed to go to the Centauri Moons, she gave up everything on her home planet to accompany him and make sure he never forgot what would be lost if he failed. And when she had returned home, she found her husband nearly dying and a wrecked palace. Not only had she made the majority of the remaining repairs to the palace herself, she had been the one to make sure her husband, the current Grand Ruler, was still able to perform his duties by carrying him wherever he needed to be and covering for him when he couldn't make it.

And now, here she was, this hulking behemoth of a warrior woman, happily being a flying stool for the outsider who had taken over her lab so he could install security cameras to keep her husband, her son, and her bumgorf safe.

As he checked the last few details on one of the last cameras he had to set up that day, he recalled what he and Robin had talked about in the garage two weeks previous. He remembered telling Robin that he had asked his dad why he didn't just let him die with his mother. Why had he given his son this body? Why couldn't he just be normal again? He didn't remember how he got through it nor how he found his way to Jump City and met his friends. All he remembered was bitterness and self-pity when he thought of his body, feelings that still hadn't gone away, though they had lessened after his confrontations with Fixit, Atlas, and Brother Blood.

But below him flew a woman who looked as though she'd never thought anything about her parts or her lot in life in a negative way at all. He could not understand how she had done it, not in the entire time he'd known her nor the many hours they'd spent either talking or in companionable tinkering silence.

 _Damn the torpedoes, I'm going to ask._ Cyborg cleared his throat and almost lost his balance when Shiora started to descend the long way back to the palace grounds.

"All done?" she asked as she descended.

"Uh, yeah, I'm done for now. I have to go back to the lab and check them out. Want to come with me?" Shiora nodded happily, her electronic eye squinting as much as her normal one as she smiled. He sighed and braced himself for her possible fury as they walked toward the nearby laboratory.

"Hey, Shiora?"

"Hmm?"

"I was wondering…"

"What is it, ziglada?" He almost asked about the nickname but decided his question needed an answer first.

"How do you… How are you so okay with being… how we are?" he asked, and flinched a little with worry at how she would react. But when he opened his eyes, he saw her grinning happily, and she clapped him on his shoulder.

"Cyborg, I do not see any difference between myself and my people," she answered sagely, and Cyborg raised his one brown eyebrow in surprise.

"You don't?"

Shiora shook her head and opened the door to their workroom as she said, "I see none."

"But… how?" he asked, "I mean, not to be rude or anything, but you're missing a couple parts."

"I can still walk. I can still see. I do not see how that is different from any other Tamaranean's ability to do the same," she replied kindly as she hobbled over to her workbench. It was then that Cyborg noticed that her artificial leg was not moving as well as it usually did. Shiora removed the offending appendage, placed it on her workbench, and asked, "Which compartment is my oil in, Cyborg?" He reached into her second drawer and pulled it out for her.

"My thanks, ziglada," she said and proceeded to oil her leg as she spoke, "You and I have the same in common as anyone else on this planet. Including your friends. We all have the ability to speak, to communicate, to understand, to love, do we not? We can walk, run, fight, play, whatever we wish. And all life requires maintenance, Cyborg. But instead of those you call 'doctors', we must maintain ourselves."

Cyborg was struck with her logic. "Do you get weird looks? I mean… don't they notice?"

"Of course they do," she said nonchalantly, putting the oil away, "but they would stare even if I still had my organic parts. People give strange looks. This is a fact of life. Humans stare at other humans who look 'normal' on your world, do they not? They judge them because their hair is too short or their skin is a slightly darker shade. But they do not have mechanical parts. They are no different than their people, but they are still looked at strangely. People – humans, Tamaraneans, Vernathians, anyone – will always find a reason to stare."

Shiora paused from her lecture to turn and look Cyborg in his eyes. "Our job is to not let it bother us and continue to be strong, even for the people who look at us strangely. For they may have families and friends who value them or they may be hurting and we cannot see. We need only to focus on our duties, and we will be prosperous."

Cyborg's remaining organic eye began to water a bit. She gave him a little smile and asked, "You still need to check the system, yes?" Cyborg sniffled a little bit and returned to his computer, dwelling on what she said.

He thought back to what he had gone through with Atlas; he still had the ability to defy his artificial parts. And the ordeal with Brother Blood had shown him that his human spirit was indomitable and incorruptible. But while those had proved to himself that he was still capable of being human, the rest of the world seemed to miss it.

But Shiora didn't care. Neither did his friends, especially Starfire, but Shiora was different. She was just as accomplished as he – perhaps even more so – and vastly different from others on her world. Yet she lived her life no differently than if she hadn't had her eye ripped out or her leg torn off. Cyborg wanted to cry or curse himself for ever thinking of feeling pity for her, let alone for himself.

* * *

 _Robin,_ Raven's voice echoed in the Titan leader's mind, _we need to talk._ Without any other warning, Raven phased through the floor to his room. Robin didn't mind; he and Raven had the kind of relationship that afforded her the luxury of showing up unannounced, though God forbid he try that with her room.

"What's wrong?" Robin asked from his punching bag that he had been beating on for the last hour.

"I feel like Soulfire is hiding something. Especially from Starfire," she replied. Robin sighed. He should have expected this – Raven rarely showed up with good news.

"I do too. I was talking with him in the garden earlier, and he seemed off." Robin then continued to explain the subtle and the not-so-subtle lies that Soulfire had told him, and Raven absorbed this new knowledge in silence.

"What did he say to you?" Robin asked as he delivered one final blow to the bag. He began to towel off his face as Raven chose her words carefully.

"He asked us to teach Al'krr about Earth since he is going to be acting as ambassador once the crisis is clear," Raven said, "but that wasn't the issue. Starfire had no problem with that. But Soulfire looked uneasy until she said yes, and I heard them talking about her after she had left." Robin glanced at her, suspicion lacing his forehead. Slowly, she recounted what she had heard, and Robin's suspicion deepened mingling with a bit of anger and a deep curiosity she knew meant trouble.

"If they even consider handing her over after all of this—" he snarled.

"They know we'd come after them, and I think they may be slightly afraid of us. They know that the only one who would stand a chance against us would be Souflire himself, but Darya would never let him battle us head-on. No, that's not what they are planning, that I know for sure." Raven breathed, "But I think what Soulfire lied about may be connected to this."

"Which lie?"

"The second."

"Something to do with Starfire's feelings is a shame?"

"That's what I'm thinking," Raven agreed vaguely. She was not the trained detective that Robin was, but she could figure out a few things on her own. There was a short silence where Robin stared at his desk and mulled this new information over.

"Robin?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you want to do?" Another short pause followed where Robin formulated a quick plan.

"Go join Beast Boy and Starfire. Keep an eye on Al'krr," he instructed, and she nodded.

"And you?" Robin turned and stalked out of the room.

"I'm going to find out what's such a shame," he growled as he left. Raven quirked a small smile and flew off in search of the happy energy she knew to be coming from Starfire and Beast Boy.

* * *

"Dude, no way!" Best Boy gawked at the TV screen he had set up in his room. Mitsurugi, Al'krr's chosen character in SoulCalibur IV, had beaten Beast Boy's choice of Voldo once more, thus winning the match. Having only been introduced to the concept of video games half an hour beforehand, Al'krr was doing marvelously and Beast Boy was mildly seething with self-loathing.

"I have won, yes?" Al'krr asked, and Starfire clapped her approval.

"You have! Beast Boy may have gone the easy on you, but you have claimed victory!" Starfire cried joyfully, and Beast Boy perked up.

"Yeah, I was going easy on you since you're still learning," he said, fibbing a little (not that the Tamaraneans knew), and puffing out his chest. "Good job, man!"

"These diversions are fun, especially these battle simulators," Al'krr stated, his eyes glowing at the TV screen. "The diversion with the automobiles was not nearly as entertaining."

"Well, dude, you're supposed to go fast."

"But the sign reading 'Speed Limit' depicted that one should only go fifty-five miles for every Earth-hour, yes?"

"Not in a racing game," Beast Boy clarified. Al'krr was about to ask a follow-up question when Raven phased through the floor of Beast Boy's room and took a seat next to where Starfire was sitting on the upper bunk of Beast Boy's bed contraption.

"Hey, Raven!" Beast Boy said, his eyes lighting up visibly, "We just finished a round. Want to join us?"

"No, thank you," she said monotonously, eyeing Al'krr surreptitiously, "I was just coming to see how the Earth education was coming along. I didn't realize we were starting with the most inane part of human culture."

"Aw, come on, Rae! It's just fun! Besides, I want someone new to play games with – I know all of Cy's moves by now," Beast Boy whined. Starfire leaned in closer to Raven, their shoulders touching, and laid her head on her blue-clad friend's shoulder.

"What would _you_ like to teach Al'krr?" she asked innocently, and Raven easily conjured a few books out of thin air. The books, encased in her signature black energy, floated easily over to Al'krr and dropped gently into his lap.

"Two books on basic Earth history, two more advanced English books, three books on Earth's foods, and A Christmas Carol," she said, separating each of the eight books into categories on the floor in front of the boys.

" _A Christmas Carol_?" Beast Boy asked.

"He'll learn about one of Earth's biggest holidays," she justified, "Besides, everyone should red Dickens." Al'krr marveled over the books in front of him and looked up at Raven in admiration.

"Thank you very much, Lady Raven. I shall begin studying at once," he said, flipping through one of the cookbooks she had given him – _A Beginner's Guide to Cooking_. He found a recipe that looked intriguing to him seconds after opening the book and pointed to the picture on the page. "Beast Boy, may we attempt to create this concoction?"

Beast Boy peered over Al'krr's shoulder and started to drool a bit, "Dude, the first thing you want to make is pizza! I knew we were going to get along! Come on, let's see what we have in the kitchen – I'm sure we can make something!" The men stood up, Al'krr gathering the books into his arms, and dashed out of the room, leaving Starfire and Raven behind. Starfire stood to follow them, but she hesitated and looked back at Raven with concern.

"Raven… I am not certain how to say this, but I feel that it must be said," she started, and Raven leaned forward eagerly. Had she figured out something strange was going on with Soulfire's sudden interest in "training" an ambassador?

"What is it, Starfire?"

"While I hold Al'krr in very high regard, and he has looked after my brother very well, I feel that… I fear that he might try to steal my friends away like my sister did," Starfire said sadly. Raven sighed inwardly; it wasn't quite the realization she had been hoping for, but at least Starfire could tell something was going on.

"I have never gotten the hang of the video games nor of the cooking, but Al'krr takes to things without trying. Beast Boy was not going the easy on him like he does with me, yet Al'krr won. I just fear… I…"

Raven slid down the side of the bed and put her hand on Starfire's shoulder. Starfire started a little – initiating physical contact was not Raven's modus operandi – but relaxed when she saw the fierce look on Raven's face.

"Starfire, I can't speak for Beast Boy or anyone else, but I know without a doubt that I'll never like anyone else the same way I like you," she said firmly, and Starfire's eyes began to water a bit. Raven withdrew her hand and started to exit the room, but she paused at the door long enough to say, "And I've never thought you were a bad friend, even when you were trying to give me space. Okay?"

Any other words she might have said were knocked out of her as Starfire tackled the dark empath from behind in a spine-crushing hug.

"I am so very jubilant to hear you think so, Raven!" Starfire squealed.

"I can see that. Could you, maybe… let me breathe?" Raven asked, and Starfire gave her friend one more quick squeeze before flying off to find Beast Boy and Al'krr. Raven sighed. She hadn't really expected either of the two to be as suspicious as she and Robin were, but she had hoped to have gained more information than the fact that Al'krr was weirdly good at Earth things. With a quick glance around Beast Boy's room, she satisfied herself with the thought that nothing strange was going on there at least and followed as well.

* * *

~ commercial break ~

* * *

Surprising only Robin and Cyborg, Al'krr and Beast Boy turned out an incredibly tasty veggie supreme pizza, mozzarella cheese sticks, and potato skins. They had made so much that the Titans and their hosts had dined solely on Earth food that night, and everyone praised the two chefs for their culinary efforts. Even Cyborg hadn't complained about the lack of meat; the abundance of cheese and butter over everything had made up for it nicely. Shiora, Darya, Soand'r, and Firid'n all fell in love with the new Earth cuisine and requested that Beast Boy and Al'krr continue cooking for them. Starfire volunteered to help them, and Robin had encouraged her to try her hand at baking desserts. Robin noticed that Raven had smiled a little at Starfire's eyes lighting up when they began to one-sidedly discuss what kinds of baked goods she should try to make, but the princess's smile faded every time she caught either Soand'r or Al'krr's eyes.

And Robin was not the only one to notice.

Darya had mainly remained quiet during the meal, as was her custom, except to request a few more mozzarella sticks. But she diligently kept an eye on the Titans, especially Raven, Robin noticed. He wondered why Raven specifically, but maybe he was missing something. Unlikely, but possible.

After a lively evening meal, the higher tier denizens of the palace scattered to their respective duties while servants came to clear the table. Somehow during the course of dinner Starfire had managed to convince Raven, Beast Boy, and Al'krr to let her "adorn their toenails with vibrant paints", so she eagerly pushed the three of them toward her room. Robin watched them wistfully, but headed to his room instead. And Cyborg, having expended a lot of his power already that day with the extensive building and system checks, went to his room to charge and hit the hay early.

Cyborg lay awake for a while that evening. He was alone in the lab, waiting for the last few updates to be installed in the security camera system, which would go online at midnight. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was… wrong. He felt more at peace with himself than he had in a long while; his talk with Shiora had been enlightening and fulfilling, most definitely, but something in the air felt strange. Glancing over at the screens on his desk, he could see most of the halls and a few of the larger rooms illuminated on the computer. The rest would be visible to him later that night when the updates to the more urgent systems on the floors with the sleeping quarters were finished. Everything looked fine on the screens and his programs weren't detecting any abnormalities.

He sighed. Maybe it was just in his head. But he couldn't shake the unease he had felt at dinner. Robin and Raven had both seemed on edge, but no one else seemed to have noticed. Except perhaps Darya. One of the first things he had learned when he had been given free reign over the technology of the palace was that the prince's bodyguard was a fierce and intelligent woman. She had amazing technology at her disposal and had the means to use it, but since her focus was usually on the prince, her problem was with time, and he had been happy to help her with this assignment. Over the last two weeks, they had become friendly, and Cyborg made a mental note to speak with her in the morning about what he had noticed. Perhaps she sensed something too.

* * *

Starfire fell asleep giggling that night, happy that she had been able to have fun with her friends. She was especially gleeful that Beast Boy had happily volunteered to paint Raven's toes and had even let her paint his in revenge. Something romantic in her heart had warmed at the sight of the small smile Raven had on her face as she peered at the slightly messy but still pretty decent job Beast Boy had done in painting her toenails a deep scarlet. Starfire had insisted that she do Raven's fingers as well, but chose black to keep Raven's pride in check. She could hide the red with her shoes, but her fingers would be visible. Raven had then coerced Beast Boy into letting her paint his toes a hot pink, and Starfire painted Al'krr's in a cool royal blue. He thought it was very intriguing that people of Earth would paint their nails just to cover them up again, but Starfire had explained that it was more about spending time with friends, and he nodded with a grin, understanding.

She couldn't help wondering why Robin hadn't joined in on the fun. Cyborg had explained that his energy was low and he needed to charge; not to mention that he didn't have toes to paint in the first place. Shiora wanted to spend time with Galfore, Firid'n had his rounds, and Soand'r said he had some paperwork he had to look over. Darya would go wherever Soand'r went, and Starfire understood that. But Robin had just smiled as she left and turned toward his room, never telling her why he didn't come. A small twinge of worry scrunched up her face momentarily before she brushed it off. Robin was her best, most precious friend. He wouldn't avoid her for no reason.

She hoped.

With a mostly contented sigh and a happy squeeze of her newly emerald green toes under her blanket, she drifted off into a heavy sleep.

* * *

Beast Boy was doing a good job of keeping his resolution to keep his room on Tamaran neater than his room on Earth. It had been two weeks, and there was no leftover food to be seen. There were dirty clothes, sure, and scattered video games and CDs (he was old school and still listened to music on CDs, refusing to get an mp3 player of any sort). But it still smelled normal.

Tired from the day's activities, he crawled into bed that Shiora had proudly provided him. It was sort of like his bunk bed in that it was nearly ten feet off the ground. But instead of a bottom bunk, there was a jungle gym that immediately made half the animals in him leap for joy. He refused to tell anyone how often he spent as a monkey, sloth, or even a snake playing or just lounging around on the colorful twisted contraption. It was like Shiora just "got" him. Heck, he'd been able to get along with most of the royal elite. Firid'n loved watching Beast Boy change into creatures he had never seen before, Shiora praised his cooking to no end and actually _liked_ tofu like he did, and Al'krr was turning into a good video game and cooking buddy. The only two he couldn't quite get a feel on were Soulfire and Darya, but he hadn't tried to bug them much. They were busy running a planet, and he could totally respect that.

Fluffing the pillow he had brought from Earth, he sighed and lay on his side. He couldn't shake the feeling that, even though it had been two weeks since Raven woke up, she was still struggling. He didn't know what else to do about it for now, though. Starfire was still hesitant to initiate contact with her brother, but he was happy to see her trying. Cyborg had been on edge, trying to be ready to protect everyone without all the security protocols that he had on Earth and it was stressing him out. And he could tell Robin was itching to get back home.

Beast Boy didn't mind Tamaran. He didn't even mind his hot pink toes. But he didn't like how troubled his friends were. That was never okay with him.

* * *

Raven knew something was wrong. But she didn't know what. She had every intention of speaking with Robin the next day, but she couldn't shake the thought that she should be doing something right at that moment.

Relaxing into the plush bed Shiora and Darya had selected for her room, Raven took stock. Nothing had blown up that day, thankfully. Allowing herself to be a bit more emotionally invested a little at a time had been slowly working. She smiled more, letting Happy stretch her legs. She let Pride show when she had perfected a new spell. Bravery convinced her talk more with their hosts. Little things, little gestures every now and then, allowed her to reach a bit further each day. And her powers were becoming more reliable. She was still not up to the level she had been before Trigon had been defeated, but that was to be expected, even if it annoyed her.

She sighed, wishing she knew more about emotions. She was having trouble figuring out why Soulfire was antsy in regards to his sister and what his plan was, even with Darya's obvious disapproval. And she had noticed Darya occasionally staring at her at dinner, though she wasn't sure as to why. Raven's lack of emotional awareness was preventing her from being able to help Robin, and it was bothering her.

Under the comforter, she flexed her scarlet toes. The day hadn't been all bad, just ever so slightly annoying in some places.

* * *

Robin, on the other hand, was not going to sleep yet. He made his way through the halls of the palace, taking careful note of how many turns and twists he had to take from his room to get to Soulfire's. Even though by Earth standards it would be nearly midnight, he was used to staying up late studying, so his mind was still alert and racing. And just as he was when he was obsessing over Slade or planning how to save Raven from her father's influence, his determination made his mind all the sharper.

He found Soulfire's room - rather, he found Darya standing outside one of the larger doors, keeping watch, so he assumed that it was the Prince Regent's. Without moving a muscle, her eyes slid sideways to get a look at the Titan, and her mouth quirked up into a smile.

"Milord has been waiting for you, Titan leader," she said in her signature cool tone, "Please, come in." With the hands that were positioned behind her back, she opened the door and stepped slightly to the right. Robin nodded skeptically, but entered into the room nonetheless.

It reminded Robin more of an office or library than a bedroom. The walls were completely lined with bookcases overflowing with tomes in languages Robin would never be able to decipher, and in the corner to his right was what looked to be a swirling map of the galaxy, hundreds of stars and planets circling in the spiral pattern. At the very back wall, surrounded once again by books even over the headboard, was a large and plush-looking bed, bigger than any Robin had seen this far. The Tamaranian crest was emblazoned on the deep plum-colored comforter, and the pillows were properly in their place.

The main reason he had journeyed to the room, however, was sitting at a complex-looking silver metallic desk with three surfaces. In front of the prince was a book that he was reading with the assistance of some incredibly clunky-looking goggles. Each hand spread out to either surface of the desk, one typing something into a hologram keyboard in a language with double the amount of keys as an English keyboard, the other scrolling through menus with what appeared to be numbers and news articles in Tamaranean.

The door clicked behind Robin, and Soulfire's head jerked up from his book. "Robin," he said cordially, removing his goggles. He placed them on the book to mark his spot, then waved the other holographic menus back into the desk. The tall alien brushed his purple hair out of his green eyes and circled around the desk to greet Robin with a handshake that the Titan reluctantly returned. Soulfire seemed to sense his mood and motioned him hesitantly to a couple of chairs next to the bookshelf wall near the galaxy map.

Soulfire sighed, "I deduced that you would be able to see through what I told you. My sister was correct, you are an excellent detective. And it fills me with displeasure that I had to lie to you like that." Robin continued to glare silently as Soulfire continued, "I am… still uneasy, Robin."

"Uneasy?" Robin asked.

"I have trained my whole life to be Grand Ruler of Tamaran. And I am essentially performing those duties now. But I had never imagined that I would need to navigate a war," Soulfire said, looking down at his hands, "and especially not one against such formidable foes."

"I understand that," Robin said a little harshly, "but I don't understand why you lied to an ally. You brought us here. You claimed to need us. If you don't, we'll go back home."

Soulfire winced and stood, "It is not that I do not need you, Titan. It is that my efforts at negotiation have hit a… what is the word? Snug?"

"Snag," Robin corrected, and he would have smiled at the similarity of the siblings if he weren't so on edge.

"Snag, yes. My requests for parley have gone unanswered, and my spies do not return. I have received one message, though, in a language you would refer to as 'Mandarin', and I have been able to decipher some of it."

"Mandarin? How would one of your people know Mandarin?"

"The same way my sister, Darya, and I all learned English: lip contact. My sister is not the first Tamaranian on Earth. She is just the first to be there unwillingly as an escaped prisoner, and the first to draw attention to her abilities as she does," Soulfire responded as he walked over to the desk and pulled a tiny piece of paper out from underneath the book. "It has taken me these past dozen moons, but I have managed to decipher the words 'cruel new ruler', yet that is only half the message. It seems we are dealing with a larger threat than we had initially bargained for, especially if my spies have not returned."

Robin leaned back in his seat and contemplated the new information, wondering what the next course of action should be. Should he mount a rescue mission with the other Titans? Should he wait for Soulfire to finish translating on top of his other duties? He wanted to offer Cyborg's language banks, but the information was likely confidential, and Robin wasn't sure if Cyborg had Mandarin in his systems.

His thoughts were interrupted by Soulfire saying quietly, "However, I do believe that your concern is not completely with what I spoke of in regards to negotiations in the gardens. Am I incorrect?"

Robin shook his head, keeping his face as unreadable as possible. "You mentioned to Darya about something being a shame, Soulfire. I would like to know what."

Once again, the prince sighed as he walked back to his desk and gingerly placed the message back under the book. "I imagined you would."

* * *

11:55 p.m. Earth time.

A door opened to one of the bedrooms on the higher floors of the Tamaranian Royal Palace, reserved for dignitaries and people of importance.

This door belonged to one of the most important people on the planet.

Silently, a figure, tall and imposing, walked from the door to where the room's occupant slept comfortably, somehow having spun herself around so that her head lay hanging off the foot of her large purple bed. Her bare feet, colorfully painted a deep luxurious green, were tucked under her pillows.

She didn't hear the soft zing of a silenced dart gun. She didn't feel the tiny needle press into her skin, nor did she feel the gentle tug as it was removed after it had done its job. She didn't rouse herself as the figure left her room and soundlessly closed the door again.

11:57 p.m. Earth time. Mission accomplished.

* * *

"It is a shame that you hold such tender feelings toward my sister, Robin," Soulfire explained. "I am not unhappy that she has friends, far from it. But I am saddened that she seems too… attached to you. And you to her."

Robin stood from his seat and glared even harder at Soulfire, but he kept his voice passive as he said, "I don't believe I follow you."

"I have every intention for my sister to return to Earth with you all once the conflict is concluded here on Tamaran," Soulfire continued diplomatically, walking over to his bed and rubbing the bridge of his nose, "However, it comes with a… condition. An ambassador shall accompany her to Earth so as to keep communications between our planets open, and he shall marry my sister as well."

Robin's jaw dropped unflatteringly, not even caring that his poker face had broken. "Her what?!"

"Her husband. Al'krr is to act as my ambassador and will take his place as Koriand'r's husband upon doing so."


	5. Episode 5: For Real

Episode 5: For Real

And this is where the second of the original season 5 episodes would go. The only thing that changes is that Cyborg explains that they're still on Tamaran instead of fighting the Brotherhood of Evil at the beginning of the episode.

Now, here's where it gets gappy. I had already written Episodes 2-4 before I started posting them, but now I'm working on 6-13 and the movie. It may take me awhile, but I have plans for the series, and I'm not giving up. I just ask for patience while I write. Each episode is supposed to be very long - it's an episode, it should be long! - so it'll take me some time to get each one down. Don't worry, more is coming your way soon. I will keep writing this and all my other stories, like a sequel to "Hey Soul Sister," more of "After the Beast," and any one-shots or series I post on my Twitter.

For those of you who don't follow me on Twitter, I occasionally post polls so I can see what people want me to write. If there's a story you'd like me to write, make sure you vote on the poll!

That should be it for now. I'll keep these coming as soon as they're done! Toodles!

…um.

Okay, I feel bad making you wait for just a couple of sentences. But… Well, use this chapter to ask me questions! (I love questions!) I will respond in a re-publish of this chapter later on. :)


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